IBWY: Chains of a Spirit
by SalinaSwathe
Summary: AU The world as we know it was created by Gods for merely their amusement, and in their boredom they created the human race, but who was to regulate the flow of souls? Well, Death and his minions of course. However, what happens when one of those minions falls for a human? GrimmjowXUlquiorra Shonen Ai, BL, Fluff, Adorable Shower Scene
1. They Were all the Same

Hello! Welcome to a story I've been trying to write for quite a while XD. I use a lot of Bleach characters in this story, however some have different names, so I made a list at the end matching the Bleach character to the name they have in the story. I really hope it won't be confusing, and that you'll enjoy it!

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At the beginning there were 13 siblings, by bond not blood. Powerful beings with unlimited potential and strength. For a millennia, they played like the children they were, and for the next they grew bored like most children do. They look to the eldest of them, and begged for him to give them something to do. The eldest wracked his mind and after days passed he created an enormous place they called Earth.

His siblings praised him for the new playground, and set out to explore and play in the new realm. However, the new realm was not enough. As pretty as it was with its high mountains and glistening lakes, it was empty; the siblings were still the only beings in existence. They went to the eldest once more.

He buried himself in thought and came to yet another conclusion: They would create and maintain life. For that, they would each need a purpose in the lives of the beings they would potentially create.

The eldest became known as Creation, as he was the only one who could bring their ideas into reality. The male "God", a word they'd made up earlier in their youth, wore brown tresses and equally brown eyes. His flesh shined with a inner light that was his creative power. He was able to even crystallize small pieces of his power and give it to his siblings for them to create their own things. With this ability he figured out his siblings' purposes in their realm. He gave them each a piece and a few weeks to think of something to make.

Two days passed and things changed drastically. The perpetual twilight that existed in the world he created, as well as the clear sky and warm temperature, began changing randomly. It would darken and lighten following which mysterious orb was in the sky. He would suddenly feel unbearably hot and then hug himself as the temperature went horribly cold. The sky would go from blue to gray and water would fall. Creation found four of his siblings to be the culprits.

As he approached he saw the 6th- a tall male with brown hair and gray eyes and a cheerful, carefree disposition- and the 7th- a male with long white hair and brown eyes, who was cheerful as well, yet calm and the only one who could put a leash on the 6th when he went too far- talking to each other, while the 8th and 9th- both carried the same face though 8th had bright orange hair and brown eyes and 9th had black eyes and white hair- bickered loudly with each other like they always did. Creation decided to see to the twins first, the siblings who were so by blood.

It seemed that they were the creators of the two orbs in the sky, and the reason why it was switching between dark and light. They argued for two reasons: Both believed that the other had copied their idea, and believed that their creation was better than the other's. After trying futility to calm them, Creation turned to the 6th and 7th.

They admitted to causing the temperature to change as well as the strange states the sky took. 6th wanted the world to change states every so often to spice everything up, and naturally 7th wanted to be nearby to make sure he didn't get out of control. 6th became Weather and 7th, Seasons.

He turned back to twins who had ended their argument to roughhouse over which sky orb was better. The 3rd, a male with blond hair, fair skin, and and wise gray eyes that seemed to hold many secrets. He separated the quarreling boys, and told them that he liked their ideas and creations, and that great minds think alike. The words calmed them quickly and they decided they'd work together as Night and Day. With his creation orb, the 3rd fashioned a large container of two connected glass bulbs, and the bottom bulb was filled with beautiful white sand no doubt from the beach he wandered all the time. He flipped it over and cradled it upright in his arms as sand trickled slowly to the next bulb. As the sand fell, he announced, Day should move his creation across the sky and as it set Night would begin to raise his creation. The 3rd became Time.

As the days went on he witnessed most of his other brothers and sister make things and earn their name, and roles in the world he created. 2nd and 4th, both males with long black hair, grey eyes and porcelain skin, became Logic and Order respectively with Logic saving his orb for later when it'd be needed and Order creating an infinity scroll to log all the changes happening to their world.

5th and 10th, sister goddesses with fair skin, turquoise eyes and purple hair though the older, 5th, was playful and the younger was quiet and more reserved, became Luck and Fate after Fate created a crystal ball in which to piece together futures and Luck a board game of cards, wooden pieces and dice in which she always won when playing verses her siblings.

Creation discovered one of their smallest 11th, a small fair skinned female with short light green hair and pink eyes, out during the hours when Night's creation, the Moon, watched over the darkened landscape instead of in the home the Logic eventually built with his orb since Weather wanted water to fall from the sky these days that Season called Spring. She stared at her orb for a long time still having no clue what to make. She was jealous of her siblings who had made such wonderful, useful and beautiful things while she could think of nothing. Creation saw a smirk spread across her features after moments passed and she looked to her orb again. Her hand closed over it and two wide, flat rings of a dark glowing stone formed in her hands. She hefted them, both a little larger than her head, before rearing back and hurling one at the Moon. It soared gracefully, but menacingly, disappearing as it flew farther away. Eventually, it seemed to strike home as cracks formed on the Moon and darkness spread across its surface as it withered before finally crumbling, returning the world to the perpetual twilight of Creation's design.

Creation gasped.

Cackling gleefully as the thrown ring returned to her, 11th raised the other one above her head and prepared to strike the ground with it. She gasped when the arm hefting the disastrous ring was grabbed in Creation's large hand and she was lifted from the ground, flailing, by it. Creation took her rings and dropped her and she whipped around in time to see the rings crumble with a mere squeeze from his fist. She screamed and wailed angrily at Creation as the others came out of the home to see what all the commotion was about.

Night screamed in outrage and sorrow upon seeing that his Moon was gone. Day and Time held him back before he could lash out at the younger Goddess and was only placated when Creation gave him another orb for which to remake his creation. It looked a little different this time with divots and shadowy areas instead of a smooth surface with a white glow, but he was happy with the change.

Still angry that her own creation was gone and her fun ruined she was henceforth called Calamity and taken under the wing of Fate. Eventually, Creation remade her rings for her, but they were kept in a glass case, that she could not open nor break, in her room.

12th, a female of creamy skin, flowing sea green hair and brown eyes, and 13th, the youngest with white flesh, long black hair and inverted eyes -his sclera was black and his pupil and iris white- were the last to still have their orbs.

13th visited Creation one day telling the eldest that he knew not what to do with his orb. Feeling a chill as he remembered those words coming from Calamity, he took his creation orb back not wanting a repeat of previous events. It saddened 13th to have his orb taken away, but he accepted it, and didn't lash out like Calamity would have. Creation found himself second-guessing his actions as 13th walked off with his head hanging.

Eventually, 12th made something out of her orb. It was a limp form with four limbs and covered with dark fur on its body and white on its head. The eyes it had were glassy and dull and it had a fifth long appendage that didn't have a hand on it like the other four did. She wasn't sure what it was only saying that she'd dreamt it up, and now needed something to make it move like they did. Thinking hard, Creation made something akin to his creation orbs, only this one was smaller and glowed brightly with an inner light as it floated over his palm. He gave it to 12th who pressed it into the odd thing's form. It shuddered as large eyes gained a twinkle and it reached up to hug 12th around her neck as it looked around with wonder making "Ooo, eee," sounds.

13th wandered over as Creation marveled at the creature and 12th announced her wishes to make more of the creatures. They saw 13th and 12th showed it off to him. He smiled and pet its head.

Suddenly, its eyes went glassy and the orb that Creation had made to give it life fled its body. It fell limp in 12th's arms and she screamed in fright.

13th backed away as he apologized profusely.

Creation calmed her as he took the orb and had her put it back into the creature once more. It came back to life and clung to her once more, it's fifth appendage curling about her arm. She hugged it close and ran away from 13th to keep it safe. She became known as birth and him... Death, much to his chagrin.

For the next millenia, they learned to fulfill their roles. Seasons and Weather and Birth, with Creation's gift, created things to inhabit their world. Birth created countless types of lifeforms that were given life by more souls. Seasons and Weather made many plants that had no souls, sure, but were still alive and would flourish depending on how it was outside. Some budded in the warm time called Spring, some greened in the hot times called Summer, some grew edible parts during the cool time called Autumn and most withered during the cold time called Winter. They worked together with Time to make the times changed fluidly and with Logic's help they had a rhythm to follow; Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, and repeat. Birth and Logic moved Birth's creations around to live in places where the times suited them. With Order's help they set about how things would run, how they interacted, ate, slept, died and gave birth to more of their kind, though Birth was the only one who could direct souls to fill the newlings her creatures made. Most of the others had very little roles during this time, with Calamity having the least, much to her annoyance, and the others' reliefs.

Death's sole role was to maintain Order's doctrines by making the creatures lose their souls so that they could be put into the newling bodies. He soon became a master of his unwanted gift, able to take back souls by merely calling them rather than having to touch the creature housing it.

With their work done, they set about filling the emptiness around the world with beautiful things, and after that Creation made a new realm for them to watch their creations from while still fulfilling their roles.

They watched for countless eras, adding new things to their world and taking away things that no longer had a place. They once even let Calamity use her rings to destroy the world so that they could start over. Night and Day weren't too happy, however, as they'd liked the great, terrible lizards that had lived their for a time, but they eventually got over it.

However, their creators grew bored again, though this time with their creature's simplicity, and wanted more out of their beautiful creations.

Creation presented the problem in hopes that they perhaps had ideas. His gift was creation, not imagination, after all. _"Our world has become stagnant, and our creations remain the same no matter how many eons pass; what shall we do?"_

 _"Let's make some in our image, but with less power lest they overthrow us..."_

They made it so, but another problem arose; though their new creations were made in their image with beautiful bipedal bodies, varieties of looks, and minds to think, they all returned the same after death much like their previous creations. The good returned good, the bad returned bad, and the neutral returned neutral. There was no variety to the souls, and the gods returned to their previous dilemma of stagnancy. Birth, Creation, and Logic visited the collector and inspector of all souls: Death.

The male god had become jaded over the many many years, though still did his job diligently. He sat upon his white throne as he carefully studied and labeled the souls that he grabbed; bird souls for bird eggs, animal souls for the wombs of pregnant animals, human souls for pregnant humans. The throne sat sideways to the entrance giving the other gods only a view of his profile.

 _"Is it possible to make the human souls different each time they return to your arms?"_ Logic asked.

 _"You cannot ask me such a favor when you see how overworked I am,"_ Death snapped at them without taking his attention from his souls. _"To make the limited amount of souls different each time they came to me would take time away from directing souls that do not need such attention. Stillbirths would increase tenfold. It's bad enough with Birth constantly leaving the domain, and allowing souls to pile up in her room!"_

Birth flushed with shame at the truthful accusation.

 _"Perhaps you could keep a few souls to aid you?"_ Creation offered.

 _"Never!"_ both Death and Birth boomed.

 _"Souls do not belong in our realm, they are to come through only to return to a new body,"_ Death said.

 _"Keeping a soul from its destined body is wrong anyway,"_ Birth uttered.

Logic and Creation both sighed. _"Then we remain at a standstill,"_ Logic uttered.

 _"Unless..."_ Death began, earning the other gods' attention. He took his hands away from the souls he'd been directing and actually looked to them. _"Allow me the power to create minions, demigods of a sort, to aid me in the collection and distribution of souls."_

Creation shook his head. _"You wish to diverge from your set role? You are a lesser destroyer and keeper of souls, you do not create."_

 _"Then you will not get refurbished human souls."_ Death returned his attention to the boring souls floating about his raised throne. _"If you are done, exodus through the door to your backs."_

Stricken, the others left.

A century passed before Calamity, Luck, and Time began to once again bemoan the lack of appeal of their latest gifts to the mortal realm.

 _"Perhaps I should destroy the world again,"_ Calamity suggested with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.

 _"After the last time, we will probably never let you do such a thing again,"_ Time uttered while Birth and Creation shuddered in remembrance.

 _"I can hardly fathom how they can be the same after centuries have passed,"_ Creation murmured. _"You would believe that the ability to think would make them interesting. Perhaps even innovative."_

They were all silent in thought. After a few moments passed, Birth hesitantly looked to Death, _"A century ago, Death, you suggested something_ _that would help you. What exactly was it?"_

 _"Hm? Merely a being that would collect and reshape souls."_

 _"Perhaps you could tell Creation of the design, and he may-."_

 _"No, I have a specific, complicated design that would be nigh impossible to explain and get the desired results."_

Birth looked to Creation. _"Would it be so terrible to allow Death to create a few of these beings on his own?"_

Order slammed his hand on the table they'd gathered around and stood out of his seat. _"Such a thing cannot be allowed! There is a system that must always be followed, and-"_

 _"Nothing is inflexible, Order,"_ Luck giggled.

Creation sighed. _"Do you... have the design in your mind at this moment?"_ he asked, his tone betraying how against his next action he was.

 _"Indeed."_

Creation brought his hands together and breathed into them. His hands glowed and when he opened them a small orb rested in his palms. The orb floated over to Death who grasped it and cradled it in his own palms. It was just like the orb that had been taken from him when they were still young. _"That will allow you enough power to create one being of your design. We will use it to help in deciding whether we'll use your method or not."_

Death nodded his thanks and brought the orb close to his heart before freezing and lifting his eyes to Creation. _"One request?"_

 _"Speak."_

 _"Even if you do not wish for me to utilize them, will you allow me to keep the one I create today?"_

 _"Whatever for?"_

Death grinned wryly. _"Even I get lonely sometimes."_

The other gods laughed, and Creation allowed his request, so he pressed the orb to his heart and infused it with his power. It began to morph as he placed it on the table. Very soon a figure much like a human, therefore three times smaller than the gods surrounding it, was slowly lifting itself off of the table and onto its feet.

Birth gasped and covered her mouth. _"What a ghastly thing!"_

The new creation was very pale and so thin it was nearly skeletal though its face was round and not gaunt. It appeared to be completely wrapped in a cloak of flesh with dark chains akin to the ones adorning Death's clothes binding it as well, trapping its arms to its chest. It looked around curiously with large pale eyes that were slightly curtained by shoulder-length white hair.

Order diverted his eyes in disgust. _"What. Is. **T** **hat**?"_

 _"A soul collector_ ," Death introduced and ran a gigantic hand over the being's head. _"If used, it would collect souls for me and bring them here for me to alter. I would expend less energy and time pulling souls into this realm this way."_

 _"You wish to send this... thing to the mortal realm? To roam among the creations already there?"_ Order asked as he glared at the humanoid creature from the corner of his eye.

 _"Yes, though they'd only roam the areas with humans. I do not need help with the nonhuman souls after all."_

Creation shook his head. _"I... we must think this over. Please return to your domain, and as promised you may keep your creation."_

Death rose to his full height and bowed before gathering his tiny creature in his arms and transporting back to the Domain of Rebirth which he shared with Birth.

 _"If Calamity's rings weren't proof enough, then that was proof as to why destroyers should never create!"_ Order declared once Death was gone.

Calamity, still stuck in a young body humphed and crossed her arms petulantly.

 _"That was an abomination!"_ Order continued, uncaring as to Calamity's hurt feelings. _"A perversion of order!"_

 _"As appalling as his creation was, his promise of efficiency and variety is appealing,"_ Logic said.

 _"I am against him making anymore of those,"_ Birth protested. She leaned forward and whispered harshly as if afraid of Death hearing her, _"That thing had no soul!"_

 _"It was his first time creating anything,"_ Calamity muttered. _"Creation could help him make something better to help him."_

 _"I..."_

All turned to Luck.

 _"I thought it was rather cute..."_

 _"As did I!"_ Weather piped up happily.

 _"I'm very glad that I wasn't the only one!"_ Seasons sighed.

 _"You three have nothing to do with creation, so you have no say,"_ Order snipped.

 _"I do,"_ Weather objected.

 _"Plants perhaps, but that has nothing to do with what Death created."_

Logic sighed. _"You are all acting like you're still 1000..."_ He stood. _"I suggest that w_ e _adjourn this meeting for a later date; we are much to frazzled by that strange looking creation and cannot make mature, reasonable decisions right now."_

 _"As always, you have a point,"_ Creation agreed and rose to his feet as well. _"Meeting adjourned."_

 _x~x_

Souls floated through the air about Death's throne as he plucked them from the air, and checked them for faults that would cause them to shatter or become corrupted before sending them on their way to Birth. The souls of the animals barely got a glance, while the human ones were scrutinized a bit more. As years passed he noticed that the souls were becoming darker and more fragile, though there was little he could do. He eyed his creation which sat primly on his lap wishing that he could let it fulfill its purpose of fixing the souls, but alas, it was not allowed.

His creature stiffened slowly and turned his head to look at whomever had entered. It appeared that his creation could be used as an early warning system.

 _"Unless you bring news that I may use my creation, leave; I am quite busy."_

 _"Perhaps if I were to learn about your creation, I could grant you that privilege,"_ Creation countered. He mounted the stairs of the dais the throne was on and drew closer.

 _"Careful! You'll disrupt the souls, and I'll have to relabel them!"_ he hissed. Death made the souls lift higher over their heads and looked to the god that was their leader. _"What do you want to know?"_

 _"Merely... explain some of your choices for its design."_

Death grunted. _"I admit there are some flaws, but only due to my focus on function. Had I considered aesthetics I would have given him color. Such large eyes would be beautiful if green, and perhaps a head of black hair to accent them. Other than that he is exactly what I want in a soul collector."_

 _"But why the chains and the cloak of flesh?"_

 _"The chains are what link him to me and this domain, without them I could lose him to the vastness of the mortal realm, and he may look human but he is nothing like them."_ The subject of discussion scooted off of Death's lap and gracefully descended the dais. Creation watched the knee high being warily as it passed him, heading towards the portal Death used to pull souls in. _"The inner workings of humans have been foregone in him to leave room for the souls and his healing energy. Since the workings that aid in keeping the body warm are gone, the flesh cloak keeps his body warm for him."_

 _"Whatever for?"_

 _"So that the souls stay warm."_ He lifted a dark eyebrow. _"You are one of the creators of the souls I work with and you did not know that souls need to be warm during transport? Apparently, Birth must not know either, because she sends them without protection and if they get cold before reaching its intended vessel, it ends up right back here and the newling is born a stillborn husk."_

Creation touched his chin in thought. _"I suppose so. Also... 'him'?"_

 _"He looks like a male human so I've taken to calling it a him. I've named him as well."_

 _"Yes I know, 'Soul Collector', correct?"_

 _"That is what he is, not who he is."_

 _"Is it really accurate to call something without a soul a who? Ah, what is it doing?"_

Death followed his gaze to where the soul collector was kneeling in front of the portal. He seemed to be studying something on the floor just outside the portal. _"I'm not sure."_ Death left his seat and strolled over to his creation. _"Oh,"_ he sighed sadly.

 _"What is it?"_

Death stooped to scoop up the flickering soul resting at the swirling portal of light's edge. _"This soul is close to shattering. I would've never noticed it if Yuelki hadn't drawn my attention to it."_ He gently reprimanded Yuelki when he attempted to take the soul from Death's hand. _"No."_ The soul collector gazed at him steadily but eventually backed away under the scolding gaze of his creator. Death returned to his seat and put the broken soul into a bottle. _"I'll have to devote some time to fixing it later."_

 _"How could you have let this soul fall into such disrepair?"_ Creation accused.

 _"It is not my fault, this one has met too many horrible fates."_

 _"What do you mean?"_

Death sat heavily and brought the souls closer to begin organizing them once more while speaking. _"Any human with this soul lives the same way and then dies horribly. Trampled in a stampede, plummeting off a cliff, eating something poisonous, getting sick, drowning... one time they were eaten alive if I remember correctly."_

 _"How awful, but there is little that we can do about what Fate and Luck decide."_

 _"Oh but there is. Each soul was infused with a different amount of luck and a fate which is good or bad depending on their luck, I designed my creation to be able to take attributes of different souls to make different ones."_

At that moment, a blood curdling scream ripped through the air. Both gods turned to the entrance as the Goddess of Birth stormed in, dragging the soul collector in by his hair. _"This thing is a monster!"_ she cried and tossed him forward. The soul collector, confusion plaguing his countenance, stumbled forward and tripped and fell before Creation. He laid still, face down on the white floor.

 _"What happened,"_ Creation demanded while Death gathered the fallen collector.

Tears streamed down Birth's cheeks, as she fought off sobs. _"That thing **ate** some of the human souls in my room! I **knew** nothing good could come of something Death created!"_

Creation scowled and looked to Death who'd already retreated back to his throne. _"Explain this, Death."_

Death looked over Yuelki to find nothing wrong with him, but then again, he'd designed the Soul Collector to be hard to damage. _"He was fulfilling his purpose, and while yes he took the souls into him, they were not consumed."_

 _"Then make it release the souls,"_ Creation ordered.

Death looked to his sister goddess. _"How many souls did he take?"_

 _"Three,"_ Birth snuffled.

 _"Then there is nothing I can do,"_ Death shrugged.

 _"What do you mean? Do you truly have no control over your creation?"_ The god began to glow. _"If you cannot retrieve those souls, then I will destroy it to get them back."_

Death was unfazed by the threat. _"I can do nothing until he has taken at least ten souls into his body."_

 _"But why?"_ Birth demanded.

Death scoffed. _"You all wanted variety, ten souls would allow for a significant amount of variety."_ He grinned. " _Perhaps you would like a demonstration?"_

Birth sneered. _"You plotted this, didn't you?"_

 _"I did no such thing, Yuelki wandered into your room on his own and did what he was designed to do. It's your fault for not being more watchful over who and what enters your room. Now, Brother Creation, will you allow Yuelki to take in seven more souls so that he may expel ten new ones?"_

His glow diminished as he directed his own unamused look at the lesser destroyer. He closed his eyes and crossed his arms in thought. He expelled a breath after many moments passed. _"Do as needed."_

Death nodded in thanks, and flicked his fingers to make souls draw near to Yuelki. The creation scooted closer to them and at his creator's allowance he opened his mouth and snapped a soul up.

Birth flinched and stifled a sob each time Yuelki "ate" another soul, until she was crying once more as the soul collector looked for the tenth and final soul to use for reconstruction.

Death unstoppered the bottle of the nearly shattered soul and pressed the opening to Yuelki's lips. His white eyes closed as the soul passed from the bottle and into him. He sighed and flopped back as if sleep.

Birth let out a particularly loud sob. _"It's belly filled, and hunger slaked, the beast falls into slumber."_

 _"Cease your blubbering and dramatics, the souls are not lost. When he awakens you will have ten fresh souls to play with."_

 _"And how long will that take, pray tell?"_ Creation asked.

 _"I do not know."_

 _"What?"_

 _"The souls are all very damaged, there's no way of knowing how long Yuelki will take to fix them, though I'd wager somewhere around... a full moon's turn."_

 _"So long?"_ Birth asked. She covered her face with her hands. _"Perhaps you decided wrong, Creation?"_

 _"I hope I did not."_

Death scoffed. _"If all you're going to do is bemoan your choices, then I insist you leave. Especially you, Birth. Your simpering is annoying and you have many more souls to deal with, I'm sure."_

 _"You're awful! How are we even related?"_

 _"Trick question: we're not."_

The goddess breathed a snuffling gasp, and stomped away.

Creation shook his head and calmly followed her. _"I will be returning soon."_

x~x

Many hours passed, and Yuelki began to stir. Death let his attention leave that of the souls in favor of giving it to his creation. He sent a silent chime to the mind of his brother god, and Creation along with Birth, Logic, Fate and Order entered his room.

 _"Quite the audience,"_ Death observed.

 _"We all want to see if your abomination is actually as useful as you claim,"_ Order growled.

 _"I don't care of it's use, I want to make sure those souls are okay,"_ Birth snapped.

Yuelki whimpered and drew his creator's attention back to him. Death murmured a few words and his white eyes opened. The flesh about his bosom opened like the petals of a flower and a glowing orb slowly formed and floated out of his chest before the fleshy cloak and dark chains replaced themselves. Death took the behemoth soul into his hands and gently split it into ten.

 _"Brothers and sisters,"_ Death started. _"I bring you ten, fresh souls."_ He summoned an old soul for comparison.

The soul he summoned was one of the less damaged ones, though the differences were still evident. It was grayish and flickered from time to time, and in those moments of flickering one could see a small spiderweb of cracks. The new souls were pure white and gave strong and steady glow, and there was nary a crack in sight. He allowed them to float to the gods and goddess that stood before his dais for further inspection.

Birth ran her fingers over some of the souls. " _They shine so bright."_

 _"Like when we first created them,"_ Creation agreed.

Yuelki woke from the stupor healing souls had left him in and scooted off of Death's lap. He descended the dais with a noticeable eagerness in his step. Before he could be stopped, he snapped up another soul.

 _"Yuelki, no,"_ Death scolded, and left his throne to recover the soul collector.

Yuelki snapped up a fourth and turned to see Death approaching him. He danced away and snapped up a fifth and then a sixth as Death reached for him.

 _"He's lost control of him!"_ Order exclaimed.

The soul collector darted away as if he were playing a game, and his minute stature made it difficult for him to be caught. It wasn't until he'd taken in his tenth human soul, and collapsed that Death was able to scoop him up. _"I haven't lost control, he merely doesn't understand the meaning of 'no'. He's still young after all."_

Creation crossed his arms and sent an unamused look at Death. _"I allowed those first ten souls to be absorbed into that creature, not these."_

 _"But now you've seen his capabilities,"_ Death protested. _"He will form another soul mass for me to split into ten, same as those floating around you now. And since these souls were not as damaged then it will not take as long for him to repair them."_

Just as he said that Yuelki twitched and whimpered in his arm. Same as before, the flesh cloak opened and a soul mass came out. Death looked from the mass back to his "siblings". _"Shall I split this soul?"_

Creation's lips pursed but he nodded, and the deed was done adding ten more fresh souls to existence.

The Soul Collector woke and tried to escape his creator, no doubt to snap up souls once more, but Death held fast. _"No, Yuelki,"_ he told him when he struggled. _"No."_

Yuelki looked to him with a cocked head and confusion in his eyes. Death told him no again and he lowered his head as if ashamed.

 _"Good, he's learning,"_ Death said, and pet his creation's head in praise. He watched as Creation gathered the fresh souls and one old soul close and turned to leave. _"Where are you going? Why are you taking them?"_

 _"I've called a meeting to discuss what should be done with this new knowledge."_

Death was confused. _"I didn't hear your chime."_

 _"That's because I did not invite you to the meeting."_

The words stung but Death only pursed his lips and turned to return to his throne. _"I understand, Brother Creation."_

 _"Actually..."_

Death turned back towards him, thinking that the other had had a change of heart.

Creation put out a hand. _"Give me the Soul Collector."_

The youngest gasped and backed away, clutching Yuelki to his chest. He shook his head. _"N-No! Brother, you promised you would let me keep him!"_

Creation shook his head. _"I'm not going to destroy it."_

Death swallowed thickly.

 _"Give it here, little brother."_

 _"Him."_

 _"What?"_

 _"Him. He may not have a soul, but he is still alive and lives and learns like the mortals of yours and Birth's creation. He is not a thing, he is a 'he'."_

Sighing, his hand did not waver as he held it out to receive Yuelki. _"Very well. I'm not going to destroy him. Now hand him over."_

Death was still hesitant but eventually gently placed Yuelki in Creation's hands. Creation clutched the minute being firmly to his side and left. Death watched them all go before going to sit in his throne. He sighed, quickly missing his already beloved creation.

x~x

Yuelki kneeled silently on a vast table surrounded by the souls he'd recently fixed, and large beings much like his master. A few gave him looks of disdain while a couple had more inquisitive looks and a handful looked fondly at him. He liked the fond looks and the inquisitive ones were fine, but the disdain was worrisome. He wanted his master... why did his master give him away?

He flinched as he felt as if something was gently invading him with its comforting presence and relaxed when he realized that the presence was his master's. Feeling a command, rather than hearing it, he figured out what his master wanted of him and paid attention to what the other large being were saying.

 _"I say we allow him to make more,"_ the one his master whispered to him was Logic. Logic was one with an inquisitive look. _"I don't see any harm."_

 _"Neither do I,"_ the one called Faith, a fond looker, said as she caressed her crystal ball.

 _"But to have soulless things like that roaming **freely** amongst our creations like Death wants?"_ Birth, a disdain looker, said. _"I don't like that at all."_

 _"I doubt Death gave him the capabilities to harm."_ Yuelki had to turn to see that it was Seasons, another fond looker, who'd spoke. He lightly brushed souls aside and beckoned for Yuelki to come nearer to him as well as another fond looker, Weather. He moved over and sat down again to receive pets and caresses from them.

 _"How can you even stand to touch it?"_ Birth asked.

 _"He's very cute,"_ Seasons said. _"I think Death did well for his first time creating something."_

Calamity looked to Creation. _"Hey, why did you take your creation orb from him all those years ago anyway?"_

 _"I didn't want him to turn into another destroyer like you,"_ Creation murmured. _"But it seemed it was inevitable."_

Fate nodded.

Creation looked about the table. _"Any other reasoning not to use Death's creation? As well as to allow him to make a few more?"_ He looked to Birth who'd opened her mouth. _"Other than that it is soulless?"_ She promptly closed it. _"No? Then we will cast a vote. All in favor of Death's wishes being fulfilled raise your hand."_

All except Birth and Order's hand went up, and were stared at. Order sighed. _"Death... **does** work really hard. He deserves some help..."_ He raised his hand. Birth was the only one left, they stared at her, but she refused to raise her hand.

 _"Very well, Birth,"_ Creation murmured and lowered his hand, signalling to the others to do the same. _"Then you may take your leave, take these souls with you as well and have them delivered to newling humans for birth."_

She pursed her lips angrily as she stood and quickly left with the souls clustering up and following behind her.

Creation sat as the door to the room shut with a reverberating slam. _"Now, for the remainder of this meeting, we must make some... rules regarding Death's wishes."_

Yuelki felt his master's presence leave him, but the feeling of worry did not come over him as he relaxed into gentle ministrations of the kind, fond-looking large beings.

x~x

Death was smiling as his siblings entered his room and Yuelki was set on his feet so that he could return to his master's side. Death helped the smaller being into his lap before finally looking to his brothers and sistren. Before Creation could make the announcement that Death would be allowed to make and use his Soul Collectors, the youngest admitted that he already knew. It seemed that he'd discovered that he could connect with Yuelki in a way that would allow him to see and hear what the Collector did.

While unhappy that they'd been spied on, Creation still shrugged it off and told Death the rules they'd made as he hadn't listened in on that as well.

Death would be permitted to create nine more Soul Collectors to have a total of ten, all of which had to remain in the Domain of Rebirth or in the mortal realm. To keep from having incidents like the ones Yuelki had caused, they had to have already matured minds. They also were to be limited to getting nine souls from the mortal realm before returning to Death for their tenth as it wouldn't be wise to have them passing out where Death could not go."

Death's brows knitted. _"'Cannot go?"_

Creation nodded. _"While there are Soul Collectors in the mortal realm, you are forbidden from venturing there until you've called them all back."_

 _"But why?"_

Order was the one who explained. _"To maintain the balance of course. Besides, who would take care of the souls here if you were all there?"_

Death didn't like the thought of his freedom being limited, but nodded nonetheless. He agreed to all of the conditions and Creation bestowed upon him nine more creation orbs for which to make his Collectors. He kneeled on the floor and pressed them all to his heart after a few moments of thought. Same as before, they began morphing as he set them on the floor before him, and shortly there were more Soul Collectors kneeling in front of him.

 _"They're all different!"_ Calamity exclaimed excitedly as they lifted their heads and blinked their pure white or pure black eyes owlishly. They all had hair colors ranging from red to purple with the last one black like Death had wished Yuelki's had been. They all had varying heights as well, though none were as short as Yuelki, and some were even decidedly female in shape.

The white collector wandered over to see his new siblings and stared curiously at them. They stared back.

 _"Take care of Yuelki,"_ Death told them. _"His mind isn't as mature as yours."_

They nodded and a few began to crowd their young-minded brother. Yuelki made sounds of protest and annoyance, but did not fight them.

 _"Aw,"_ Season cooed. _"They're hugging him. Do they have names as well?"_

 _"Yes, it's what inspired their hair colors."_ He pointed as he told the names to the others. _"Rosso, Sienna, Kiiro, Beryl, Sky, Nila, Violet, and Noir."_

 _"Wonderful names,"_ Time praised.

Death clapped and they all ceased their affection towards Yuelki to give him their undivided attention. They were told of the intricacies of their job and the few things they were not supposed to do (namely interfere with humans other than to collect their souls). Nodding purposefully, half of them were directed to the portal that would take them to the human realm while the others received souls right then and there, flopping to the floor upon receiving their tenth souls. Yuelki was eager to do the same, but was instead directed to go with the ones headed for the human realm as he had to learn how to collect souls. He was hesitant to leave, but wasn't able to resist as Beryl and Noir nudged him towards the portal and into the new realm.

Fate spoke as Death gathered the other five passed out Collectors and the other gods turned to leave. _"There will be trials and challenges waiting for your creations, but I foresee only good things from this in the long run."_

Death turned and grinned at her. _"Thank you."_

* * *

 _List of the Gods and Goddesses_

1\. Creation- Sosuke Aizen  
2\. Logic- Byakuya Kuchiki  
3\. Time- Urahara Kisuke  
4\. Order- Senbonzakura Kageyoshi  
5\. Luck- Katen Kyokotsu (Older Woman)  
6\. Weather - Shunsui Kyoraku  
7\. Season- Jushiro Ukitake  
8\. Day- Ichigo Kurosaki  
9\. Night- Zangetsu Shirosaki  
10\. Fate- Katen Kyokotsu (Younger woman)  
11\. Calamity- Lilynette Gingerbuck  
12\. Birth- Neliel Tu Odelschvank  
13\. Death - Murcielago


	2. Differences Were Made

_Hundreds of Years Later_

She tried not to weep, but it was hard. So very hard. How did one keep from weeping over the body of their stillborn child after all? No, she had to be patient like custom dictated. She had two days before it was certain that her child would not know life. She flinched as her husband entered the room and embraced her from behind. She was thankful that he didn't try to tell her that she should sit down, or eat, or drink something. She just couldn't think about those things at the moment, so she tried to think of happier things instead; hopeful things.

The birth had been easy and having it at home had been a wonderful idea. The midwife had been nice and helpful as well. With her husband's looks surely he'd grow up to be a handsome young man, she'd just have to make sure he was raised well. Oh and one couldn't forget his education. Her boy was going to the nice private school not too far away, and then college after that; hopefully he wouldn't party too much.

There was a thump and then the window slammed open making the inhabitants scream. When they shook off the initial shock, they peered at the window to see what they'd been hoping for standing in front of it: a Soul Collector no doubt holding the soul for their baby. They stared in awe as it looked around.

What an honor. It was the White Collector, Lord Death's very first Collector as well as his first creation. It was also the creepiest one, but they, as humans, had no right to judge another god's creation. It ceased it's scan of the room and headed for the cradle on the other side of the room to gaze down at the still, unbreathing babe. It's mouth opened wide and a glowing soul was there and it leaned closer to force the soul into the body. Nothing happened as the soul slipped past flesh and the glowing ceased, but the Collector began to nuzzle and press its lips to the baby's cheeks and forehead.

There was a gasp and a loud squall, and the the mother let tears finally fall as she rushed over to pluck her crying baby from his bed. One day and eight hours. She'd waited one day and eight hours to hear those beautiful wails. They calmed to simpers as she held him close to her heart and brilliant blue eyes opened to stare up at her. Fresh tears fell and she looked to the White Collector who was staring at her little bundle. She thanked him loudly and profusely and her husband thanked him as well.

It stared for a little longer before politely bobbing his head and turning to leave the same way he'd come.

"His hair."

She looked back at her baby when her husband uttered those words remembering that stillborns given their souls personally by a Collector bore hair of vibrant colors, matching their Master's love of such things. Her husband slipped the cap from their son's head and she gasped.

Beautiful blue curls sprouted from their boy's head.

* * *

 _21 years later_

"It" was back. And by "It" he meant the White Soul Collector.

White, as he'd taken to calling it, had been around since his very birth. At first he'd thought it'd only been coincidences as usually he witnessed him following someone who was nearing death as all collectors did whenever they could, but he realized around the age of twelve that sometimes White just... hung around him. It scared him at first. He'd thought that White was coming back for the soul he'd given him, and would yell at him. He screamed fright-filled things and occasionally threw stones whenever some were near. He'd cry that White couldn't just take his soul back so suddenly, and that people like him didn't live short lives so he should go follow one of the old people from the nursing home miles away. It took a few months, but eventually he calmed and realized that White only watched him from afar, and had no intention of taking back his soul.

However, for a while, White stopped showing up. between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one, he never saw him again. It wasn't until the death of one of the house servants that he saw White again.

The rapid and thunderous knocking at his door startled him out of his sleep and out of his bed before he could fully realize what was going on. He stumbled over to his door and opened it to see his in-house maid, Martha, sobbing madly. She blubbered and babbled unintelligibly until he grabbed her and held her in a tight hug. He bade her calm down and tell him what was wrong. It wasn't until sirens sounded in the far distance that she managed to get out what she needed to tell him.

"Oh, _hic!_ Mr. Jaeggerjaquez it's Mr. Grey! He _hic!_ he had a heart attack."

He shushed her as she began hiccuping with sobs again. "Take me to him and then go let the paramedics in okay?"

She nodded rigorously and lead him away.

Mr. Grey was on the floor of the hallway leading towards the kitchen area. Poor guy had probably been on his way to get a late night drink, as was his usual routine. His eyes were closed though his face was contorted into a grimace of pain as his fingers limply clutched the fabric of his nightshirt. He heard his maid stifle a sob behind him and he gently ordered her to go meet the paramedics. He looked back to his butler and sighed sadly after she'd shuffled away.

There was a light and he looked up to see a Collector turn the corner and look down at him and Mr. Grey. The Collector was White. He chuckled ruefully.

"The Collectors slacking or something? Would've been nice to have had a warning... I could've given him a proper goodbye..."

White did not appear to hear him, only moving closer and falling to its knees near Mr. Grey. White moved even closer and leaned over Grey until Grey began to glow and his soul slowly slipped out of his body. White opened its mouth wide and drew the soul into its body. It swallowed thickly and rose to its feet as large eyes blinked slowly, sleepily; the sign that a Collector had absorbed their ninth soul.

White merely stared at him for a moment and turned to leave as new footsteps approached.

"You know," he said, managing to get the Soul Collector to pause, "you don't have to skulk around. If you wanna hang out, feel free to do so."

The Soul Collector continued on as the paramedics arrived to whisk Mr. Grey away on their gurney.

Mr. Grey was covered with a blanket once he was secured, and that seemed to just make Martha sob more, so he pulled her close again. She clutched him tightly, grateful for the caring gesture. They followed them out the door and watched as they loaded him up in the back of the ambulance before rolling away; sirens silent this time. Eventually the cold became too much and he went back inside, taking his maid with him. He walked Martha to her room before returning to his own. Unable to sleep, he found himself just standing in the center of his room looking around as he thought over everything.

His room was his sanctuary to say the least, or it was so when he wasn't hitting his gym or riding his bike round town. Creams and grays dominated his room with random blues, greens and even purples popping up, usually in the form of the odd plant, pillow, painting or knick knack. His king sized bed dominated the right side of the room, sporting a gray comforter that was mussed from his earlier wake up call with his cream cased pillows flattened and the blue and mint green decorative pillows strewn about, some even on the floor. It was closest to the door as well as the window that looked out over the manicured front lawn and stone path that led to one of the smaller gates on his high stone and wrought iron fence.

The left side was dominated by his study and general relaxing area. There was a large desk against the wall and on top of the pastel green rug with his laptop on it as well as a few files, letters, and bills he'd been looking over. To its left was a folding room screen with the doors to the closet and to the bathroom on the other side, and to the right was a deep-cushioned gray and white pin-striped chaise lounge with tall book shelves and a floor lamp surrounding it. The shelves were filled with business books, fiction novels, and the odd manga or erotica book with colorful cat-shaped bookends one of his friends got him for his birthday holding them up. He tended to forget all his cares when he sat in that little corner of heaven, but tonight as not the night for that...

He'd have to call Grey's daughter in the morning. The poor girl would be distraught but would no doubt be eager for her father's remains and personal effects to be shipped back to their homeland where she lived so that he could be buried in familiar soil amongst his own. He'd have to also have to hire someone to pack Mr. Grey's things for him as he knew he didn't have the time to do it himself, unfortunately, and it wouldn't be right to make Martha do it all by herself, if she could even bear to do it at all. Once the dust settled and the mourning passed he'd have to look for a new butler to handle his home affairs, but it was so hard to find good, trustworthy house workers in this day and age.

He heaved another sad sigh as he speared his fingers through his bright blue locks. Too wound up to at least lay down, he headed for his bathroom for an early morning shower. The warm water was soothing and helped relax him if only slightly. Minutes stretched to an hour before he pulled himself from under the spray. His fingers were pruned to Hell but that was fine and normal and would wear off soon enough. It was his room, so he strolled back to his bed area with only a towel on his head which he used to roughly dry his hair. The shower helped a lot, and began to think that he could go back to sleep if time permitted; he'd have to check his phone or alarm clock, which ever was closer.

Pulling the towel from his head, he gasped and threw it over his hips to shield himself from the view of the "guest" in his room.

White had already returned and paid the human no attention as he quietly glided about the room, looking over the multitude of everyday items with genuine curiosity. With its hands bound under the cloak and chains like all Soul Collectors were, it couldn't reach out and touch anything so it instead nudged things with its nose or chin in efforts to make it do something to no avail before going after something else that caught its eye. It was honestly like watching a child in a play room. He eventually called to the Collector and White ceased nudging the curtain to look at him.

As uninventive as the name was, "White" just fit the god's servant so well. From had to toe, it resembled something made of fresh paper or even unmarred marble. The chains stood out against it in their darker color but didn't detract from its perfect form. Many thought that the White Collector was creepy with his perfect facade and quiet demeanor, but he thought that it all added to his mystique.

He blinked owlishly after staring for quite sometime and cleared his throat forcefully. "Uh... Hey there."

White turned to face him completely with its head angled to one side.

"So you came back huh? I mean... you are here just to hang out right?" he asked briefly fearing for his or Martha's souls.

It took a moment, but White nodded its head slowly.

"Ah great. Great! Um... _ahem._ I'm Grimmjow; do you remember me?" he asked as he touched his hair. "You're the one who gave me this hair."

White nodded again.

The human grinned and nodded happily as he walked closer and was shocked when White approached as well. The Collector cocked its head when it was close and began slowly walking around Grimmjow; studying him fastidiously. Grimmjow yelped as a cool nose nudged his scapula. Undeterred, White next nudged the tribal panther tattoo he had on his lower back.

Appearing to be done studying him, White returned to Grimmjow's front, and gazed up at him with blank white eyes. The urge to pet the shorter's white locks briefly plagued him, but he fought it off. He turned away and went to grab a fresh pair of pyjama pants. While he was dressing, he stole a glance at his alarm clock and saw that it was only 3 in the morning, perhaps he would lay down. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that White was still where he'd left it, just gazing back at him. Cerulean brows knitted as he offered for the Collector to have a seat. It cocked it's head and Grimm gestured at the comfy chaise lounge in the corner. The Soul Collector wandered over to it, and after studying it White carefully sat, flailing soundlessly when the soft cushions sucked it in. After regaining it's composure it looked to Grimm once more just as the human opened his mouth wide with a jaw cracking yawn.

 _Creation, maybe I should go to sleep..._ Just as he thought that his eyes drooped and he sighed. He apologized to White, saying that he would be a bad host, but he needed sleep despite the night's excitement.

White did its usual head cock, but didn't seem at all perturbed by its host's need to sleep. It scooted back and settled against the back of the lounge chair as it continued to gaze blankly.

It took a moment, but Grimm eventually turned off the light, thought not wanting to leave White in the dark, he wandered over and turned the light by his shelves on it's dim setting. He bid his guest goodnight as he crossed the room again and crawled under his blankets.

ox~*~xo

The slumbering body tensed almost violently as the blaring of his alarm clock broke the silence and shattered the nice dream he was having. Without removing the blanket from his head, Grimmjow did a lazy army crawl over to where the screaming, dream-killing noise box sat and slapped the snooze once to silence it and then did the work to find the switch to actually turn the alarm off. He heaved a sigh and flipped the blanket off his head to let the sunlight that spilled through the gap in his curtain grace his still closed eyes. He groaned and rolled over before rubbing his eyes and begrudgingly opening them.

"AAUGH!"

White didn't flinch at his sudden outburst as if steeled from it from years of experience, it only cocked its head and leaned just a little closer. Grimmjow stuck out a hand to stop it and make it back away. He sat up and stared at White with a wary eye. "Were you... watching me sleep?"

White nodded without hesitation.

Grimmjow honestly wasn't quite sure how to react to that. He could say it was creepy, but really calling a creature of the Gods whose sole purpose is to follow around those that are nearing death and collect souls from the cooling bodies "creepy" is a bit redundant as well as rude. He settled with shooing White a bit so that he could rise from his bed and begin dressing.

He felt White's eyes on him as he pulled off his pants and wandered over to his walk-in closet. He flicked on a light so that he could see inside as he blindly pulled open a drawer and pulled out some boxer briefs. Slipping them on he went where his dress shirts hung where he picked out a wine colored one to go with the dark gray suit; it was only appropriate to wear dark colors after a death.

He was sitting on a cushioned bench pulling on his socks and the more dressier leather boots he owned when White finally decided to wander past the threshold and into the closet. It began curiously nudging Grimmjow's items again, and even kneeled to get a closer look at the line up of sneakers, boots, and a couple of sandals on the floor.

"Careful," Grimm murmured when White got close to a particular pair of sneakers that he loved, but had seen better days. "I haven't had those cleaned in three weeks."

White nudged them anyway before standing and looking at the ties on their pegs nearby.

"Why don't you pick one out?" he offered. "I'll wear it to work today."

The Collector gazed at him and back at the ties before cocking its head in thought. Grimmjow went back to lacing up his boots while White decided. A cloak of white came into his view, and he looked up.

White stood before him with the tie it'd chosen in its mouth. It was one of Grimm's tackier ones, but that was okay. It was a deep blue with burgundy-ringed bronze circles of various sizes all over. He put it on quickly and rounded White to exit the closet with his dark gray suit jacket draped over his arm.

Breakfast was ready for him, though Martha was nowhere to be found. The poor woman had probably snuck off to cry after doing her usual morning duties. He scribbled a note to tell her to take the day off and stuck it to the fridge by way of a cutesy fruit magnet before sitting down to eat. After a while, he noticed that White was engrossed with watching him eat to the point that it occasionally moved its mouth in the motion of eating; it was kind of cute. Grimmjow swallowed a bite as a thought hit him.

He crocked a finger to make the Collector come closer than it already was. "Open your mouth fer a second."

White leaned forward and its jaw dropped a little farther than a normal human's could, but that wasn't the most unnerving part. The inside of White's mouth was like a deep, endless void of darkness. As Grimmjow gazed into it, unable to look away, he felt a sort of sucking sensation as if he were being pulled in against his will. He gasped and tore his gaze away quickly. "Clo-Close it!" he breathed.

White's mouth closed with a snap, bringing back the deceptively small mouth Grimmjow was used to seeing on it.

"Let's... not do that again..."

White cocked his head.

Grimmjow finished his breakfast in silence, rinsing off his dishes in the sink when done, before heading out to the garage; grabbing keys and his messenger bag as he slipped out the door. Inside were his babies: a 2014 Honda Civic EX-L with Coupe Exterior in a beautiful black crystal pearl and a Yamaha cruiser motorcycle by their off-branch Star Motorcycles in a rich midnight blue. He slipped his keys from his pocket as he headed for his bike. Next to it was chair on which was his leather riding jacket and his Shoei Qwest helmet which was black with a sliver and icy blue panther emblazoned on one side. The day was warm, and usually that meant he'd strap the helmet to the seat and ride without it on so that he could feel the wind through his hair, but with the Soul Collector there it was best not to tempt Fate...

He looked over at the aforementioned Collector as he put his suit jacket in the compartment hidden by the seat and pulled on the helmet and jacket with his bag slung on his back as well. "I bet you wanna come with me to work, huh?" he asked, to which he got a nod. He gestured at his bike with one hand as he held it steady with another. "Well then hop on. Though, with your cloak in the way, I guess you'll have to ride sidesaddle."

White glided closer with its eyes locked on the human instead of the bike. It turned around and with a little hop sat on the seat; Grimmjow barely felt a change in weight.

He quickly made the Collector sit with his legs draped over the other side so it wouldn't get burnt by the pipes (that is, if he could even be burned) and climbed on himself. His bike roared to life as he turned the key in his ignition and he felt White shift so that their backs were pressed together and his knees were to his chest. Grimmjow relaxed, as the action caused him to tense, but with his messenger bag separating them they weren't actually touching.

Revving the engine twice, he rolled up to the gate and onto the street.

* * *

Yuelki was enjoying his time with the human whose soul he delivered so long ago. It was nice that his human, Grimmjow, no longer feared him like he did when he was younger, and Yuelki could stick around and really study the way things happened in the human realm with an unwitting and pleasant guide, as he'd been much to focused on his role in life to watch them closely before the birth of said human for some reason.

Their bodies, for one, were so very different from his. They stayed warm both naturally and by using weird wrappings instead of the cloak his master had bestowed upon him and his brethren and sistren. They put things other than than souls in their bodies after grinding them up with the little white things in their maw. They also seemed to become inactive at night which had worried Yuelki a bit. He hadn't liked that his human had laid down and stopped moving; "sleeping" as Grimmjow had told him once he'd opened his eyes and started moving again. The little Collector had wandered over and started gently poking at Grimmjow with his nose to make sure he didn't have to take his soul (which would've saddened him greatly), but was reassured when his human grumbled at him and covered his head with the large cloth.

He relaxed as they rode speedily through the roads, the wind making his white hair fly every which way until they would pause at a hanging red light. He looked around until his eyes caught sight of two young humans seated in the back of a box with wheels who gawked and pointed at him, garnering the attention of their birther. She looked at him with shock and then at Grimmjow with pity before the light turned green and she and Grimmjow made their respective wheeled things go. The Collector was confused, but soon figured it out: she thought he was here for Grimmjow's soul. He shook his head in dismissal; there was nothing he could do about what she thought.

Eventually, they came to a permanent halt with the roaring being cut and Grimmjow kicking something before climbing off. The wheeled thing tipped to the side to rest on the bar Grimmjow had kicked out and, caught off-balance, Yuelki fell to the ground.

Grimmjow whipped around as he pulled off what he'd had on his head. "Shit! Are you okay?"

Yuelki merely got up and nodded. Such simple fall couldn't hurt him.

Grimmjow nodded. "Yeah, something that could take a bullet to the face wouldn't even be effected by a fall like that. What was I even thinking?"

Something within him seemed to cringe when Grimmjow mentioned the bullet to the face thing. It had happened a few months back with Rosso and Yuelki. Rosso had been following a human who was set to die soon, and Yuelki had decided to tail his younger but taller sibling as he waited for another soul to become available for collection. Up until the day of the event, the human had been throwing things and yelling hate-filled obscenities at him and Rosso -the usual, really- until one day the human finally snapped completely. He pulled out a weapon, a gun as Yuelki had later learned, and open-fired on Rosso, hitting him twice in the face and thrice more in the body before pointing it at Yuelki. Rosso, however, took the bullets meant for Yuelki, still acting on his very first order: "Take care of Yuelki." The commotion had caused human police to come upon them and when they realized that he was a known, and sought after crime boss of some sort they demanded his surrender. All in all, it ended up with the human being shot and killed when he pointed the gun at one of the men in blue. Rosso had been too damaged to collect the soul -one bullet broke his jaw and it was hanging at a weird angle and his eye was very much missing and the others had gone all the way through his body leaving many holes in him- so Yuelki collected the soul before escorting Rosso home where their master could heal and care for him. He ended up recovering from the shock a few days later after some special care from their wonderful master.

Shaking his head, Yuelki left the memory and returned to watching his human as he removed the black covering and pulled on the gray one. He followed close behind as Grimmjow headed for the very tall structure before them. The air went from warm to very cool as they passed through the doors and Grimmjow strode confidently through the vast room among many other bustling about humans. They entered a small box, and with the press of a button the doors closed and he felt them being pulled upwards. When the doors opened, the outside was much different.

Instead of an open expanse filled with humans, there were rooms that just had openings instead of doors. They were short-walled and had very little space within them, enough for one human to sit in as he could tell. Grimmjow lead him through a maze of the little rooms and humans would greet him as he passed before gawking or gasping at the sight of the Soul Collector tailing him. By the time they reached another door, a small gathering had formed.

"Mr. Jaeggerjaquez?" someone called to him as the human reached for the door. They both turned to look at the large gathering.

A man walked up with pursed lips and a deep wrinkle in his brow. He stuck out a hand and Grimmjow hesitantly took it. "It was an honor working for you, sir. It's just a shame that we're losing you so soon."

A woman started sobbing. "What'll happen now? Who will take over the company?"

Grimmjow eyebrow came together. "What? Oh sonofa-" He snatched his hand away. "I'm not dying, so everyone calm down."

The woman shook his head. "Denial doesn't suit you, sir. I understand that you're young but souls are needed." She chuckled tearfully and without humor. "Perhaps Lordess Birth is falling behind on her quota yet again?"

There were a few who chuckled bleakly at the dark humor, but Grimmjow once again shook his head. "No, no, no. Listen. I'm not in denial. White isn't here for my soul; he's visiting." He looked to the Collector at his side. "Right, White?"

Yuelki nodded.

Grimmjow looked back to his employees. "See? White is the Collector who gave me my soul, and he's just... hanging out with me for a bit. As far as I know, I'm going to be around for quite a while."

Hope filled the eyes of his employees as he spoke and then sighs of relief were released as well as some relieved tears. Yuelki watched as they shook his hands again and apologized for the misunderstanding before returning to their work. Grimmjow watched them leave before turning and entering the room he'd been trying to get into earlier.

It was a large room with many floor-to-ceiling windows along one wall showing the sky and the other buildings around this one. Yuelki wandered close to them and jumped back when he looked down.

Grimmjow chuckled and he looked to the blue-headed human. "Yeah, we're pretty high up." Grimmjow sighed as he flopped into the black, cushy-looking chair behind the fancy looking table and began pulling things from his bag. He sighed and mumbled to himself. "I still have to call his daughter.. tsk... I'll do it now..." He thumbed the buttons on the box he pulled from his pocket and brought it to his ear.

Yuelki worked up the nerve to look out the window again when a familiar tingle touched his mind, making him freeze. There was a soul to be collected. His eyes panned around to gaze in the direction of the soul and he could see its shine through the walls separating them. His shoulders slumped in disappointment. He'd hoped that his day with his human would not be interrupted, but he could not ignore his base instinct to collect souls. Yuelki stole another glance at his human before walking over to the door that barred his way. No matter; he merely passed through it.

Humans rushed to move out of his path as he strolled purposefully in the direction of the soul's light. Eventually, he turned a corner and found the soul's owner. It was a frail human with pale skin that had an almost gray undertone to it. He shivered as if cold, but sweated profusely as he huddled in his chair, looking over papers which were stacked high on his table. He lurched before bone-shaking, wet coughs were ripped from him and he pulled out a cloth to cover his mouth with. When the coughs ended he gave a few shuddery, pained moans as he went back to work. Yuelki took a step forward and the human gasped and turned around.

"N...No... No!" He stood suddenly making his chair fall and faced the Collector with fear in his eyes; a look Yuelki was very used to seeing. "Why are you here?!" When Yuelki did not move, his breathing became fast and shallow. "I-I don't underst-stand!" he cried as tears began to stream from his eyes. "I take my medicine everyday; I eat healthy; I visit the hospital every month! I can't be dying, not yet! Not yet!" He covered his mouth as another cough attack quaked through him.

Yuelki moved closer and gave a sniff to see how long he had before he could take the soul; this human didn't have long.

The close proximity made the human scream and terror and dart around Yuelki and out of the cramped space. He watched him leave before turning to walk after him. Running away wouldn't delay the inevitable...

* * *

Sobbing words poured into his ear as he relayed the unfortunate news from the comfort of his office at work. He gently twisted in his wheeled chair with slight unease as he began working out the specifics of what would be the next steps for him, Mr Grey's daughter and the body of Mr Grey. As he spoke he took comfort in glancing over at the white Soul Collector he owed his life to, a small smile gracing his otherwise solemn facade as he watched it try to go near the windows to look around before giving up and heading over to the door. Grimmjow gave another twist and when he turned back around, White was gone. Startled, he stood up and looked around.

"M-Mr. Jaegerjaquez?"

"I'm still here," he assured. "And you want his belongings to be sent home as well?"

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble," she snuffled. "Thank you so much. I-" she stifled a sob, "I'm so glad papa had someone like you in his life."

Grimm smiled. "And I'm glad to have had him in my life." Farewells were said and he finally pressed the End Call button. "White?" he called as he pocketed the touchscreen device. "White?" He walked over to the door and headed outside, stopping the first person he saw. "Hey, have you seen the white Soul Collector around?"

The man pointed despite the heavy pile of papers he held. "Yes, it was headed that-a way."

He thanked the man, and headed the way he was directed.

"I can't be dying," someone suddenly cried. "Not yet! Not yet!"

As Grimm rounded a bend, a blur of white and blue rammed into him. He grunted and threw his arms around the force before looking down to see who it was: Ukitake.

Grimmjow was well acquainted with this man, what with his sickness and insistence of asking him face to face if he could have time off for a doctor's appointment. Ukitake usually had a tired but sincere smile on, however as he looked at the white-haired man's face he saw it streaked with tears and crumbled by sobs. His brows knitted and he rubbed the other's back. "Ukitake, what's wrong?" he asked, but the poor man was sobbing to hard to get any words out. More white caught his eye and he looked up to see the Soul Collector walk over. "Oh..." he murmured softly. His embrace grew tighter as he asked the hard question. "How long?"

White looked around before turning and going around a corner. After a moment he returned with a piece of paper in his mouth which Grimmjow took. On it, the Collector had scrawled with a blue highlighter: _**2** **DAYS_**_

Grimmjow swallowed thickly and crushed the paper in his hands. He gently peeled the quieting man off him and held him at arms length. "Ukitake..."

"What?" he demanded as he scrubbed his eyes and wiped his nose. "What did it say?"

Grimmjow huffed through his nostrils and looked to the crumbled paper in his hand before eventually handing it over. He watched as Ukitake flattened the paper out and reached to touch his slim shoulders as another sob came from him and he hugged himself. "Ukitake." Grimm didn't speak again until the smaller male looked at him. "You're dismissed. I want you to clean your cubicle out and go home, and be with that Shunsui guy of yours."

Fresh tears fell as Ukitake nodded. He had to be turned and nudged in the direction of his cubicle before his feet finally took over and carried him over to his soon-to-be-former workspace.

Grimmjow looked to White and the Collector eventually met his gaze. "See you later then?"

White nodded and turned to follow Ukitake as his nature bade him.

* * *

The two days passed, and Yuelki watched his quarry who sat in the lap of a brown-haired human. The human's pale hands carded through the other's hair as their lips touched and they held each other close. When they parted, his quarry panted and rested limply in the other's arms while the brunet gently touched his lips to his neck.

"Not much time left I'd say..."

The brunet gripped him tighter. "Don't say that."

He ignored him and looked to Yuelki. "Am I right?"

Yuelki nodded.

The brunet gripped the dying human even tighter if that was at all possible. "No," he said quietly into the other's white tresses.

He shushed the brunet and carded his fingers through his hair again. "Don't be that way. I'm just happy I can spend my last moments with you..." He turned tired eyes on to Yuelki again and fresh tears fell. "Thank you so much for picking me to follow... I wouldn't trade this moment for anything."

Yuelki nodded and watched the grieving human make their lips touch again. It was forceful this time but the dying human still seemed to enjoy it. He pulled his mouth away and spoke to Yuelki as the brunet continued to press his lips to everywhere he could reach. "May we have some privacy?"

Yet another nod and he lurched to his feet as he'd been kneeling next to them on the floor of their home. He walked to the door, and passed through it to the other side. Moments later, moans and sighs came from behind him, and it wasn't the first time he'd heard those sounds since he began following the dying human. He turned and looked at the door, tempted, yet again, to peek in and see what the humans were doing, but for some reason the feeling that it'd be really rude to do so came over him and he resisted the urge.

More minutes passed and the moans grew a little louder before they suddenly ended. Listening closely, Yuelki could hear, "I love you. _hic!_ I love you so much."

"...I love you too... Shu..."

All went quiet but for the sounds of sobbing and eventually the grieving human called to him.

"Collector."

Yuelki passed through the door and looked at the humans. They were sitting much like they had been before, but their coverings were gone and strewn about. Big tears fell from the brunet's eyes as he clutched his quarry who laid limp, his soul dislodged from him, in the brunet's arms.

"Do what you must..."

Yuelki strolled forward and kneeled again, this time closer, and opened his mouth tho accept the dislodged soul into himself. He blinked slowly as he swallowed. The first of ten.

As he rose to his feet once more, the human began to sob again. Yuelki turned to leave, but paused as he spotted a box on the floor much like the one Grimmjow was speaking into all those days ago. He reached down to grab it in his mouth and went back over to the human.

"What?" he demanded before he even looked up. "What more do you-" He stopped speaking and had to remove a hand to accept the box. A wavering smile, small but still there, crossed his lips. "Thank you..."

Yuelki bobbed his head, and left the home.

He eventually found himself back in the place he wanted to be: Grimmjow's home. It was night so the human would be doing the "sleeping" thing that was apparently natural for humans, and low and behold the blue-haired man was under his covers and inactive. He padded over to where he could reach the human's face and looked down at him.

Grimmjow seemed at ease as he "slept", light snoring coming from him as he breathed deeply. Yuelki, however, was focused on the human's lips. The other humans seemed to enjoy pressing their lips together, and he honestly wanted to try. If his arms were free he would run his fingers through the hair he'd picked for his human as well, but he forced himself not to dwell on something he could do nothing about. He could, however, press his lips against his humans.

He did so gently his lips just barely touching the other's. He pressed a little harder after a few seconds earning a little grumble from Grimmjow who then sleepily pressed his lips to Yuelki's. It felt nice.

Yuelki flinched when Grimmjow's tongue gently lapped once at his lips and then stretched out an arm to pull the Collector closer. He however pulled away in shock and reeled a few paces away and stared at the human apologetically.

Grimmjow was still asleep, however.

Yuelki relaxed from his tense position and walked closer again. When he thought it was safe he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Grimmjow's again. It felt so nice...

* * *

Beeping woke him and he groaned as he blindly reached out to silence the screeching dream-killer. Opening his eyes, he stilted a yelp when they met wide, white ones and sat up quickly. He sighed as a smile formed on his lips as the Soul Collector Rose from the kneel it'd taken at the bedside.

"Welcome back," Grimm murmured sleepily, stretching and fluffing out his flattened locks. He froze as a thought came to him. "You being here means that Ukitake's passed... huh?"

White nodded, though didn't look remorseful or consoling; it wasn't their way.

His lips curled into a frown as he nodded sadly. He eventually shooed the Collector away so that he could swing his legs off of the bed and start getting ready for work. It went about the same as it had when White was first there, with Grimmjow dressing in something dark and letting White pick out his tie and this time his dress shirt as well. His outfit turned into a weird combination of a midnight blue suit with a powder pink shirt and a dark green tie with swirling silver designs.

Martha was actually quite pleased to see the Soul Collector, oddly enough, and greeted it warmly before insisting that it sit and then lamented that she couldn't feed it anything. Grimm chuckled at the woman as he scarfed down the fluffy eggs and flavorful links of sausage before they headed to the garage and rode off on his bike again.

There were no misunderstanding as he walked into the office with White on his heels, his employees knew that White was merely a visitor and for the most part wasn't the omen of death that Soul Collectors usually were.

Grimm sat heavily at his desk as White wandered around before eventually sidling up to the window and looking out with wide eyes and awe from what the human could tell. It had eventually plastered itself to the glass as it stared outside.

The difference came when it was time to clock out, and White was there for him to take home. It nearly glowed in the moonlight as it sat on the motorcycle, pressed gently against Grimm's backpack as they sped through the nearly empty streets. His eyes were drooping by the time they'd made it into the house, but he wanted to shower first; he hadn't done so the previous night.

Without a thought, he stripped down to his boxers as soon as he reached his bedroom, and headed for the shower. He flinched at the dull thud he heard as he booted the door closed behind him, and turned to see that the thin wooden door had rebounded off of the poor Collector's face. He sucked in through his teeth and apologized but White only rounded the human and went to take a seat on the wooden bench in the room that he used to set out his clothes or sat down to clip his nails, both fingers and toes. The thought of kicking White out while he showered crossed his mind, but he shook it off, there was really no reason to be bashful around White. He walked into the Roman shower on the farther wall before shucking his underwear and turning on the water.

An appreciative groan left him as the hot water battered his skin and he took a moment to enjoy the sensation before letting the water rain down on his head and grabbing the bottle of shampoo/body wash from the shelf next to him and soaping up. He was rinsing off when he felt something brush up against him. Eyes wide in shock he pressed up against the stone wall blocking the shower from the rest of the washroom while White walked under the warm spray and looked at him.

After the initial shock passed, he unconsciously reached down to cup himself, and straightened from the wall. The Soul Collector paid him no heed at first, just letting the water roll over it as Grimm had done mere seconds ago. The water rolled off the surface of its cloak like it would off a duck's feathers, however it darkened its hair and formed rivulets that ran down its face and neck. It stared at Grimm for a moment and then looked to the soap that was back on the shelf with fluffy suds slowly sliding down the bottle and back at Grimm. It wanted Grimm to wash its hair, Grimm realized after a while.

The bluenet was conflicted. It was unheard of for someone to touch a Soul Collector unless they were next to have their soul collected. It was almost taboo, actually, and there were even some people who thought that touching a Collector would mean that their death would come sooner. But the way White looked at him with such hopeful expectancy made him want to fulfill its simple wish.

He swallowed thickly as he edged over to get behind it and reached for the bottle. He squeezed a small amount of the white soap into his palm and blew out a hesitant breath before starting.

White's hair felt like silk through his fingers as he began rubbing the shampoo into it, gently scratching its scalp as he would do his own head. It didn't breathe, but still let out little sighs as Grimm worked his fingers over its head. Grimmjow murmured, "I bet this is the first time you've gotten your hair washed," and White nodded.

Grimm rinsed the soap from its hair before finally turning the water off and exiting the shower. He made White sit back down while he dried off before tentatively taking a towel to the whitet's locks and face. He was about to lead White out of the room when he remembered its feet and knelt to dry them. They were tiny, delicate things that lacked a rough sole despite the hundreds of years of walking. Same as the rest of it, White's legs were an unblemished white and Grimm found himself curiously pushing the flesh cloak higher and higher up the Collector's legs. White didn't protest, he merely watch with a curiosity of his own; did even the Soul Collectors have no clue what they looked like beneath their cloaks?

Spurred on by their joint curiosity, Grimm lifted until the first coil of chain stopped him. As expected, White was very humanesk underneath it all, slim legs sprouting from small hips. Between them was nothing, White was as smooth as a Barbie giving Grimm no insight as to what gender White might represent. The human wasn't really disappointed -honestly, what had he expected?- and just let the cloak drop back into place before leading White out of the bathroom.

He dressed in silence as White walked over to take a seat in the chaise lounge like usual. A yawn cracked his jaw, and he quietly murmured goodnight to his guest and went to bed. The light was turned off and he pulled his blankets over his shoulder as he laid on his side. He was about to nod off when a feeling hit him and he rolled over and turned on his bedside lamp; White was already standing over him.

"Knew it," he huffed as he began shooing the collector away. He stood and pretty much chased White around to the other side of the bed. When he stopped, White was staring at him curiously, and Grimm went to flip up the blankets on that side. Once done, Grimm nervously stood before it, trying to gather the nerves to touch it again. He reached out and gripped White's little waist, and marveled at how light it was as he picked it up, and swung it around to lay down. White stared up at him as the blankets were thrown over its lap and Grimm walked back around to his side of the bed. "There now it's a little less creepy for you watch me, huh?" He flipped off the light and snuggled back under the blankets before dropping off into sleep.

* * *

The warm rain had felt nice and his human's fingers in his hair had felt even better. He was even happier that Grimmjow had looked under his cloak as he'd always wondered what it looked like down there. He was only slightly disappointed. His legs were nowhere near as thick or muscular as Grimmjow's and his was even missing the little leg between them that his human had. Oh well, his master designed him for efficient soul collection so he probably just didn't need those things.

Grimmjow surprised Yuelki again when he suddenly woke up and chased Yuelki. Yuelki had been worried, afraid that he'd made his human mad by watching him while he "slept". Couldn't the human tell that he was just worried whenever Grimm "slept"? However, Grimmjow just tucked him into his bed before going back to sleep as well.

Yuelki didn't move for the first few minutes, shocked at the new development, before he sensed that Grimmjow wasn't awake anymore and looked over at him. It was nice seeing the human so close, but there was still a bit of distance between them so he scooted closer, and closer still until they were almost nose to nose. He rolled onto his side and moved even closer to press their lips together again.

Grimmjow sighed through his nose and unconsciously pressed back until his tongue flicked out to lick Yuelki's lips again. Yuelki didn't flinch away as he'd done before and just laid there. He did startle, however, when Grimmjow reached out and wrapped his arms around his slight form and pulled him even closer. He calmed, and went back to gently pressing his lips to Grimm's again when the human settled.

* * *

Grimmjow groaned softly as a gentle sensation rubbed across his chest. Bleary eyes opened and he looked down to see White nuzzling his nose into the little patch of curls dusting his pecs. As if realizing that it was being watched, White looked up at Grimm and ceased nuzzling.

The urge to politely push the Collector away tugged at his mind, but he saw no point. Who knew how long he'd been holding White like some sort of living teddy bear? If touching a Collector meant losing one's life then he'd probably be long dead.

He rubbed his eye with a fist, and rolled over to look at the clock, dragging White with him. It was only five minutes after when the alarm should've gone off. He cursed. "I forgot to set my alarm. Hmm. Were you trying to wake me up, White?"

The Collector nodded, its body awkwardly draped over Grimm's from how the human had dragged it.

Grimm smiled. "Thanks. Gotta say, waking up like that is a heck of a lot better than that alarm screaming at me. Mind being my alarm clock whenever you're around?"

White shook its head.

"Great." Grimmjow released it and stood to start getting ready for work like usual.

They exited the home en route for the garage when Grimmjow noticed that White had stopped following him, and turned to see it gazing off in the direction of the home next door where he knew an elderly couple lived. He nodded and went up the White. "Soul need collecting?"

White looked at him and nodded with a sadness in his blank look.

"Well go on, I'll see you later."

White nodded and walked off.

ox~*~xo

Later, at night, sirens wailed next door and White appeared in his room. Grimm smiled at him. "That was quicker than last time, " he commented. "Whose soul did you take. Mrs. Asher's?"

White shook its head.

"Mr. Asher then?"

White shook its head again.

Grimmjow quirked an eyebrow. "Both?"

White nodded.

The bluenet smiled. "That's good; they didn't have to part." Already done with his shower, he headed for bed. "Ready for bed? I'm off tomorrow, so you don't have to wake me up."

White darted over, and hopped into the bed, and settled on its knees as it waited for Grimmjow to join him. When they were both comfortably under the blankets with the light off, White scooted close and Grimmjow wrapped his arms around it.

"White," he murmured before sleep could take him. "Do you really watch me sleep? All night?

He felt White nod.

"Really? That's it?" He felt White cock its head before moving even closer. He flinched when soft lips touched his. He pulled back. "You kiss me?"

White nodded and moved in for another kiss.

"Huh, I didn't even know you guys knew how to do such a thing." He kissed back, the feeling very familiar to him. "Didn't even think that you all had it in you to be affectionate," he murmured. "Or is it just you?"

White shrugged.

"Well, I like it either way. It's nice." He chuckled when White kissed him again. "Okay, let's stop that for now, I want to sleep."

He felt White nod, before snuggling under the human's chin and stilling. Grimm hugged him close before dropping off.

* * *

Yuelki got to watch Grimmjow for a lot longer since he didn't have to wake up to go to that tall building. When he did wake up, Yuelki was pleasantly surprised when his human smiled at him before rising to dress.

His clothes were different too. They showed more skin and were looser and had brighter colors. He even wore the shoes that had the strong odor. Grimmjow led him to a different area of the large home. It was a large room with more strange furniture of metal and stiff, slick fabrics. Grimmjow moved and stretched in weird ways before grabbing a long rope and swinging it under and over his body rapidly and hopping each time it touched the floor. The thing rope made a soothing tapping sound each time it hit the floor.

Yuelki watched for a while before taking a seat on one of the many weird furniture pieces and continuing to watch from there. Eventually, his human ceased the hopping and rope twirling and rubbed his face with a towel as he strolled over to a tall bag that hung from the ceiling. He wrapped his hands before getting into an offensive position, and proceeding to punch it.

Head cocked, Yuelki watched as his human hopped around the bag, jabbing it with his fists every so often with low grunts of exertion. The dance was interesting and beautiful in a way. The way the bluenet's countenance was shaped into a fierce scowl of determined concentration. Sweat poured from his brow and his shirt darkened in places as the dance went on.

Yuelki suddenly flinched when he felt a familiar tingle; there was a soul to be collected. He instinctively panned his head around until he spotted the spot of light way off in the distance through any and all walls separating them. A twinge of sadness went through him as he continued to stare. He didn't want to go and collect that soul. He wanted to stay there and be with Grimmjow; soul collecting just kept getting in the way. But he had to go.

He lurched to his feet, still gazing in the direction of the white, steady glow. Without thinking, he turned to head in that direction.

His foot lifted.

He set it back down and turned away, breaking visual contact with the object that called to him. A dreadful thrill went through him as he went back to where he'd been sitting, and plopped back down on his rump. Yuelki was going against his very purpose as well as his master's very orders, and he was very well aware.

And it felt great.

Grimmjow stopped punching the big bag and wiped his face with the towel. "Everything alright over there, White?"

Yuelki felt the edge of his lips twitch in attempt to smile and he nodded.

ox~*~xo

The next day, Grimmjow didn't have to go to the big building again, but nonetheless he sat down to get some work done. Yuelki hadn't minded. The Collector just busied himself with fully inspecting the home as he hadn't done before. He startled the woman in the house on occasion when he passed through a wall or door and into a room she was tidying up, but she merely laughed it off after the initial shock each time, saying that if he kept doing that, she'd have a heart attack. That made no sense to the Soul Collector as her soul gave no hints that it was getting ready to loosen from her body; she seemed like a healthy human after all.

He was nosing around in a room that held many boxes when he sensed something and turned about. He jumped when he got a face-full of cloak and hopped back to see who'd snuck up on him. It was Rosso.

The tall male Collector stood a head and a half taller than him, with long red tresses forever styled in slicked back spikes. His eyes were entirely black and his face angular, but not harshly so. He cocked his head to the side he leaned forward into Yuelki's face. Yuelki knew that his younger but bigger brother was saying something to him, but he couldn't hear him. He never could hear him unless he listened through their master. All of his younger siblings could talk to each other, but never him. It had made him sad and jealous in the beginnings of their creation, but he had eventually gotten over it.

Yuelki flinched again when Rosso moved forward and gripped the chain that was draped over Yuelki's shoulder with his mouth. He set his feet when Rosso tried to pull him, and yanked away. With an angry grunt, he shoved at the taller Collector with a shoulder; he really didn't like it when the others tried to pull him around by his chains.

Rosso huffed in annoyance as he stood his ground, becoming an almost immovable obstacle. He jutted his sharp chin away and upwards, signalling that he wanted them both to head home. Back to master's domain.

Yuelki shook his head.

Rosso jutted his chin again.

Yuelki shook his head and accented the refusal with a little stomp.

Rosso set his jaw and narrowed his eyes.

Yuelki did the same.

With a huff and a roll of his eyes, Rosso turned and and walked away, giving up. He disappeared in the usual sparkly beam, and Yuelki waited a while before finally moving about the home again.

ox~*~xo

As the weeks passed, it got easier and easier for Yuelki to ignore the call of the souls, and he stayed with Grimmjow the entire time. The human didn't ask why he hadn't left in so long, or perhaps he just figured that Yuelki slipped out while he was asleep, but either way he heard nothing of it.

Yuelki loved the newfound freedom.

He went where ever his human went, laid with him in his bed, sat near him while he ate, bathed with him, watched him dance and punch the tall bag, and rode with him on the two-wheeled thing, that he learned was called a motorcycle, all without the hindrance of collecting souls. He learned more about humans and how they worked and lived in the last few weeks than he had in the entirety of his existence. He learned what things were for and what they were called, and in some cases, how to use them.

Of course, no good thing lasted very long...

* * *

Grimmjow found it odd that the White hadn't left his side in over a month, but really didn't want to question it; he was just enjoying himself far too much. He learned what he could about White (Lord Death had apparently given his minions genders and White was male, for one), but White learned way more. The Soul Collector had been eager to learn, and he was happy to teach. His proudest achievement had been teaching White how to use his phone. Without fingers, he had to use his nose and lips but that was just fine as Soul Collectors had no saliva, and didn't suffer from oily or clammy skin.

White had been sitting at his designated seat at his desk, his head nearly on the table as he unlocked the touch screen gadget and was attempting to play a game. Grimm looked over to see him playing the bubble shooting game he'd fallen in love with. He chuckled and went back to typing up reports.

A flash went off in front of him and he winced and lurched to his feet in shock. The slight case of spotting in his vision went away, letting him see three more collectors in front of him: the black one, the red one and the green one. He looked over to see White standing as well. "White?" he murmured in question.

White looked to him and shook his head, trying to convey that everything was fine, but then the tallest of the three, the black one, advanced and White startled and hopped away only for the red one to advance on him next. Before the Green one could predictably begin his advance towards White as well, the small Collector fell through the floor. The other three hesitated for a moment before following after him.

Grimmjow was left there in shock, wondering what exactly was going on.

ox~*~xo

White wasn't back by the time Grimm clocked out, nor even by the time he'd taken his shower. Worry kept him up an hour later than his usual bedtime as he paced about in his pyjama pants. Why had the other Collectors chased White? Was White in trouble? Were the Collectors going rogue? Was that even possible? No, they couldn't possibly deviate from whatever path their master set them on... could they?

 _Thump!_

Grimmjow whipped around as White appeared out of nowhere, and spread his arms in time to catch him as he barreled his meager weight into the much denser human. The bluenet let out a low _"oof!"_ as he stopped himself from toppling over and wrapped his arms tightly around the little creature. "White? What's wrong? What's going on?"

Before White could even raise his head, the three Collectors pursuing him appeared a few feet away. They gazed at him and White and cocked their heads, and looked to each other briefly. Their collective gazes fell back on them, and the red and green one approached.

"Whoa, wait! Can someone tell me what the Hell is going on?!" Grimmjow demanded as he took a few clumsy steps back.

The advancing Collectors suddenly shot forward on either side of them. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as he watched their mouths gape before they latched onto his arms, red on his left forearm and green on his right upper arm. Their jaws clenched simultaneously in a vicious bite.

Grimmjow yelled out in pain and his arms involuntarily opened as the Collectors yanked them in the opposite directions. White was yanked backwards from his arms and held clear off the floor by the chain the black one held in his mouth. He grunted as he was knocked over and watched as the the four Collectors gathered together and a sparkly light formed around them.

The last thing Grimm saw before the flash was the sad, hopeless look in White's eyes.

* * *

Yuelki lurched from his brother, Noir's, grip the moment his feet were allowed to grace the floor, and whipped around to glare at his brothers. _That hurt!_ His inner voice sounded like that of an older child for some reason.

 _"Yuelki."_

The little collector cringed at the sound of his master's voice behind him. His brothers rounded him and headed for the God of Death while he remained frozen in place, unable to look at him.

 _He was having relations with some human, master,_ Beryl told as he walked up to their master.

 _Yes, and he ran when we tried to bring him here. He made us chase him for hours,_ Noir reported.

 _"Is this true, Yuelki?"_

The pale Collector couldn't bring himself to speak or turn around.

 _"Yuelki! Come here."_

He hesitantly turned around and peeked up at his master.

Death had gotten bigger as his power had grown over the hundreds of years. Where Yuelki had at first stood at the height of his thigh, he now barely reached his knee. Some of the other gods were even bigger than his master with the exception of Calamity who had grown very little as the only source of power she had came from wars and natural disasters.

Yuelki walked slowly towards his creator, and scaled the smaller set of stairs that had been built for the diminutive Soul Collectors. The moment he was close enough, Death leaned down and scooped him up with enough force to wrench his neck a little, and plopped Yuelki into his lap. Yuelki moved to rest on his knees and kept his head down.

 _"Look at me."_

He whimpered and did so.

 _"Are what your brothers telling me true? Is a human why you have been shirking your duties?"_

He hesitated and then nodded slowly. _But-_

His master's scowl expressed his fierce disappointment, cutting off Yuelki's protest. His dark eyebrows knitted and his inverted eyes seemed to boil. _"I honestly have no clue what to think right now, Yuelki. Ignoring souls and refusing to collect them; cavorting with a human; failing to return to me when hailed; all around, just brazenly breaking the only rules I have placed upon you. Why?"_

Yuelki tried to speak, but Rosso beat him to it. _I found him fraternizing with a human, and I'm sorry to say that I'd had a feeling about it for a while._

 _"Explain."_

 _A while ago, I noticed a soul that had gone uncollected in the area he oversaw. I collected it myself and went to find our dear older brother. When I found him, he was nosing around in a human residence. I tried to make him come home so that I could talk to him, but he rebuffed me. And then today, when we finally managed to corner him, the human protected him, held him in his arms, and Yuelki seemed to cling to him.  
_

Death looked back at the smallest. _"Why were you doing such things, Yuelki?"_

Yuelki felt his lip form a pout. _But he's my human..._

 _"What are you talking about? You do not own those created by Creation and Birth."_

 _But he **is** mine! I gave him his soul; he's my human! _ Yuelki looked down at the wide expanse of his master's lap. _Can I go back to him now?_

The God of Death scowled at the mere utterance of the question. _"No, no you can't go back to him. You are prohibited from ever seeing or speaking of him ever again, Yuelki."_

 _What?!_

 _"I forbid it. The rule was to never interfere with the lives of Birth and Creation's humans, and you have broken that to pieces."_

 _But Grimmjow-!_ Death suddenly grabbed him and made him lay down on his lap. Yuelki didn't dare struggle, but the urge to was strong. _It's not fair, why can't I be with Grimmjow?_

 _"Do not fight with me on this any longer, Yuelki. Your transgressions constitute a remaking-"_

Yuelki flinched at that. No. He didn't want to disappear and be replaced.

 _"- but I will give you a second chance on the condition that you never associate with that human again."_ He saw his creation open his mouth, but interrupted before the words could come. _"Do not fight me on this."_

Yuelki deflated with sadness at the condition, wishing that there was another way. Some way that he could please his master while still being with Grimmjow. Whimpering he thought to himself that he should've continued his duties while with the bluenet. If he had, he could've kept him secret, but he got selfish, and now he was paying for it. Yuelki briefly wished he could cry.

 _Can I go tell him that I can't see him anymore?_

 _"No."_

 _Huh? So you want me to just disappear from him? B-But I... but he-_

 _"Do not fight me on this, Yueki. Now,"_ he murmured as he lifted a hand. Spare souls he'd gathered himself clustered in his palm. _" you owe me 4 weeks worth of souls. Noir, Beryl, Rosso, give me the souls you've collected."_ The souls flew soundlessly from their mouths -5 from Beryl, 4 from Noir, and 7 from Rosso- and joined the ones already in Death's hand. The mass of souls glowed so bright that it was hard to look at for too long.

One by one, they floated down towards Yuelki and he opened his mouth to receive them. The first ten he barely felt, then the next fit comfortably within him, but at the next ten he was starting to feel uncomfortable. By sixty, he was having a hard time staying still, and his master had to repeatedly command him to keep his mouth open, and to make it worse, he probably had another forty souls left to consume.

When the last soul was finally forced into him, his stomach cavity was painfully distended. He wanted to fall into the blissful trance one usually felt after consuming a tenth soul, but he was so achingly full that it eluded him. He whimpered pitifully, and continuously as Death stood and carried him over to the small nest of pillows set aside for the Collectors to rest as they fixed souls or when the burden of collecting and fixing them became too great.

He was laid out in between his sisters, Nila and Sky, and a little farther away, he saw Kiiro rousing. His cloak bloomed open to let the soul mass out and Death quickly broke it and sent the ten new souls along to Birth's room. Kiiro stretched his long body before sitting up to look around. His pure white eyes landed on Yuelki and widened.

 _Whoa! Yuelki, what happened? What did I miss?_

Beryl took that as his chance to hop in and drag Kiiro to his feet by his cloak. _We'll explain later but for now we have to get back to work._

Kiiro struggled in the bigger Collector's grasp only because he wanted to continue to look at Yuelki and the odd state he was in. _Ah, but... but..._ His protest ended when they left in the sparkling flash.

It seemed like and hour had passed before the souls withing settled enough for some to begin to meld. When his cloak unfurled to let out the first soul mass, his body was wracked with pain and he let out a painful wail. _Master! Master, it hurts!_

Lord Death wandered over to collect the soul mass and the pain ceased. Without a second glance at the white Soul Collector, he broke the soul mass and headed back to his throne.

 _Master?_ Yuelki called beseechingly. _I'm sorry, Master._

 _"I know, Yuelki."_

His sisters awakened soon after and were shooed off by Noir who had stayed behind to rest a little. He was gone by the time the second soul mass had formed and Yuelki was left wailing alone from the pain. About a day later the final soul mass revealed itself and Yuelki was allowed a peaceful rest.

* * *

A week went by without any sign of his White, and it was beginning to weigh on him. He couldn't help but think that he was somehow at fault for the little Soul Collector's disappearance. Maybe he should've asked the Collector if it was alright for him to be spending so much time with him, or maybe he should've reminded the Collector that he had to do his job, but he hadn't because he'd liked having White with him all the time. Guilt hit him like a fist.

"Mr. Jaegerjaquez?" Jameston, the new butler Grimmjow had hired during those four weeks, murmured softly as he set his dinner before him. "You have a meeting with CEO of FabriWorks tomorrow, but I can easily push it to another day."

Grimmjow sighed. "No, I'll go."

"I'd advise against it, sir. You've been overworking yourself as of late, and you seem to be making yourself sick. You should call off the meeting." Without another word, Jameston left to attend to other duties.

Grimmjow watched the middle-aged man wander off before looking at and poking his food. He didn't feel like eating, but he knew that he needed nourishment so he began the process of bringing food to his mouth, chewing and then swallowing without paying much attention to the taste. When he was done, he chugged down his glass of water and headed to his room to lie down.

However, he was restless as he laid there on his mattress. Eventually he rose once more and paced his room in the dark for a few moments. When that didn't help, he donned some clothes and went out to his garage thinking that a late ride on his motorcycle would calm his nerves like it had always done in the past.

The streets were calm and nearly barren of onlookers as he rode around. He raced down the straightaways, and veered around corners, the only thing stopping his soothing cruise being the occasional red light here and there, though for the most part his path was lit with green. Absolute perfection.

It was at the rare red light that he saw White.

"White!?" he cried in shock as the Soul Collector rounded a corner. When the light turned green, he raced after him, and parked on the side of the road just as as shock of white disappeared into a back street. Grimmjow followed without hesitation.

The alley was dark and foul refuse was strewn about and spilling out of the overstuffed dumpsters. Grimm paid no mind to it, and simply walked ahead, his steps faltering when a light shined bright in the center of the passageway, but he pressed on. Soon, he came upon White kneeling next to a deceased vagrant and absorbing his dislodged soul. Grimmjow remained quiet as he watched, knowing that it wouldn't be good to interrupt the Soul Collector while he worked. The light disappeared as White swallowed and he fluidly rose to his feet, his eyes blinking sleepily.

"White..."

The pale Collector flinched and his eyes were wide as he focused them on Grimmjow.

The bluenet stepped closer and brought a hand up to cup White's cheek and the pale man looked to the ground as if unable to hold Grimm's gaze for too long. "Where have you been all this time, White? I've been worried."

White was quiet, but then again, one never expected an answer from a creature such as he in the first place. He hesitantly nuzzled his cheek into Grimm's palm once before stepping away, out of Grimm's caress. He glanced back up at the human, his facade still blank but his eyes glistening with regret and pain, before scintillating lights surrounded him and he disappeared.

Grimmjow stood there in silence before he let his hand drop, and it slapped against his thigh. He pursed his lips as he swallowed a few times. He didn't know what was going on, but one thing had been very clear: White couldn't see Grimm anymore. He nodded to himself sullenly as he pulled his phone from his pocket and pressed three numbers.

"Hello? Yes, can I get in contact with the morgue, there's a body that needs to be picked up..."

* * *

The light dissipated and Yuelki was once more in the rarely changing chamber his master called his own. He stood there silently for a while, gathering his wits. Walking away from Grimmjow had been hard, harder than he would've ever expected. And that baffled and hurt expression the bluenet had worn? Too much. This was all too much.

Taking an unnecessary breath, he turned and headed for the throne his master sat upon.

 _Master, I've collected nine more souls and I await my tenth,_ he murmured politely.

Death was sitting back in his seat with a hand to his chin as he looked over his creation. _"Yuelki, you came in contact with that human again, didn't you?"_

Yuelki jumped and looked up at the controller of souls with his eyes wide. How had he possibly known? Had he been spying? Had one of his siblings spotted him and told their master? Trembling under his creator's inverted gaze, he looked down. _Yes, Master._

The hand came away from his chin and Death's posture relaxed. _"Hm, it's good that you answered truthfully. Worry not, I know that the meeting was not in your control, merely happenstance. I am not angered."_

The trembling ceased and Yuelki lifted his gaze. _You're not?_

 _"No. As I said, it was not your fault."_ Death repeated. _"In fact the fault falls upon me."_

 _What?_

 _"Yes. How can I expect you to never associate with that human when I've left you in the area of its existence. In fact it was rather cruel of me, I hope you forgive your master for his brief shortsightedness."_

Yuelki shook his head in incomprehension. _What are you implying, Master?_

There was a yawn and they looked over at the resting area to see Nila rising from the cushions, fully rested from her nap. The indigo-haired female Soul Collector was of a unique disposition, a decidedly cheerful one, and she owed it to the people of the region she oversaw. Her face was round and her cheeks rosy, and she had developed dimples from the smile she always wore. Her hair was styled in a way that was popular with the human females of her region -a milkmaid's braid- and her body's skin was light. She looked over at them with abyssal black eyes and smiled even brighter. _Hello Master. Hello Yuelki._ She climbed out of the nest of pillows and wandered towards Yuelki. She gave the shorter Collector a quick kiss.

Death sent a smile back at her. _"Hello, Nila, are you well rested?"_

She nodded. _Yes! Well rested, and ready to go back out and collect souls for you._

 _"That is good, though how would you like a change of scenery?"_

 _What do you mean?_

 _"I would like for you to take over Yuelki's region, and him yours."_

Yuelki looked to their master with wide eyes. _Master?_

Death sent him a dark look and pursed his lips. _"I hope you're not thinking to argue with me on this."_

Yuelki lowered his gaze. _No, Master._

 _"Good."_

Nila sidled up to Yuelki and nuzzled her nose into his cheek. _Don't worry, Yuelki, you'll like my region. The humans are nice, and there are trees and mountains to explore when you're not working and it's almost always winter there!_ she chirped in a failed attempt to console him.

He was inconsolable. He felt as if his insides were withering. There was nothing for him now. He'd found solace in just being in Grimmjow's city, and now he didn't even have that.

He wished that he could cry.

He really wanted to cry.

* * *

Grimmjow was shocked to hear that the Soul Collector of his region was no longer White, but the blue one instead. It -"she" from the look of it- was an oddity to the humans of his hometown. She smiled and pranced around like a human girl would, but seeing such things on a Collector was unsettling to say the least, especially when she wandered after someone whose soul needed collecting, smiling all the way.

The bluenet wondered where White was, but soon enough he saw a news broadcast from the other side of the world featuring White as their main focus. It seemed that the people over there were just as perturbed and unsettled to have had their Collector switched.

Grimmjow frowned as he watched the footage of White. He looked... miserable. White walked around slowly, his unfocused gaze on the snowy ground as chilling winds whipped his hair about his head. Grimm's heart broke for him. He missed his pale friend greatly, but it seemed that White suffered even more than he.

* * *

 _Master, I've acquired nine souls and I required a tenth,_ Yuelki asked, near inaudibly in the face of Death. Nothing was said as the tenth soul was bestowed upon him and he flopped over onto the floor.

Death went to him and rather than putting him in the nest of pillows, he set his first creation on his lap to rest while he fixed the souls within him.

 _Master?_

Death looked over to the resting area and saw Sienna peeking up at him with her pure white eyes. As she rose, her burnt orange hair fell in long waves around her plump frame. " _Yes, Sienna?"_

 _Yuelki has been acting very off as of late._

 _"Yes, I've noticed. Do you have any idea as to what's wrong with him?"_

Sienna glanced to the side as if unsure as to whether or not she should speak of the matter any more than she already had. Finally she did. _He misses that human._

Death sat back. _"Is that all? Hmph, give it a few more decades and that human's soul will be collected and Yuelki will be able to forget about him."_

 _Master,_ Sienna uttered. _He **really** misses that human. Why can't he he just be with the human? I don't see any harm._

 _"Any harm? He didn't collect souls for 4 weeks."_

She shrugged a shoulder. _And he has been thoroughly punished for it, I'm sure he'd never shirk from his duties again._ Sienna got free from the larger-than-her cushions and strolled over. _Just give him another chance. Like you said, the human will be gone in a few more decades and then Yuelki will be able to move on.  
_

 _"I really isn't so simple, Sienna."_

 _Explain._

Death huffed uncharacteristically. _"It not that **I** don't want him to associate with humans, honestly I don't mind one bit, it's Creation and Birth. **They** don't want you associating with humans, and I am in no position to oppose them. If they found out that Yuelki befriended a human -to the point that he claims the human as his-they would probably demand him to be destroyed to keep it from happening again rather than just separating them like I did."  
_

 _You can't ask them to let it slide just this once?_

 _"No, I shudder to think what would happen if I even mention it to them."_ He shook his head. _"The only thing left for Yuelki is to move on and we can only help him through this trying time."_

Yuelki's cloak bloomed open, taking the pair by a brief surprise, but Death quickly gathered his wits and broke the soul mass that had formed. Yuelki's eyes blinked open and he barely spared them a glance as he rose to his feet and climbed out of Death's lap. Death's brows came together as he studied the white Soul Collector. It seemed that his last soul mass had taken a toll on his body: Yuelki needed to rest. He mentioned as such.

 _I'm fine._

 _"That wasn't a suggestion: you need to rest your body."_

 _I'm fine._

Perturbed, Death reached down and snatched Yuelki off the stairs he'd been descending and brought him close to his face. _"You are not 'fine', you-"_ The youngest God's rant came to a screeching halt when he noticed the sate of his creation.

While the Soul Collectors didn't change much to display weakness or distress like a human did, their pain was evident to their creator's eyes. Yuelki's eyes were glazed and unfocused as he stared into space and the flesh under his eyes were dark. His cloak of flesh was covered in knicks and torn slightly on the bottom by his right foot and there was even a large cut -a knife wound- on his throat. _"Yuelki, you're heavily damaged. Why did you not come to me to be healed?"_

 _'m fine._

 _"No! You are not fine!"_ Death boomed making Sienna wince. _"Why is that all you will say to me?"_

For the first time that day -in a month now that Death thought about it- Yuelki looked at him. _What else is there to say, Master?_ he murmured. He let his head loll back to the position it had been in before. _Let go, Master. I have to go collect souls. It's all I am worth after all._

Death felt his grim heart seize and he hurriedly left his seat. He stormed over to the resting are and put Yuelki in. As the pale Collector looked bewilderedly up at him, Death place a large cushion on top of him. The only thing strong about his creations were their jaws so there was no way Yuelki would be able to lift the cushion off of him or even wriggle out from under it, and they didn't breathe so he wouldn't suffocate. _"You're resting for at least a few hours,"_ he told Yuelki. _"Then I'll mend your body before you rest some . I will not stand for you over-working yourself!"_

In response, Death received muffled sounds of struggle from Yuelki as he tried fruitlessly to get the cushion off of him, but eventually those ceased as well. Silence prevailed until Death thought to return to his throne, but then a new sound started: sniffling.

 _Grimmjow... hic! Grimmjow!_

Death took a step back. _"What?"_

 _My human... Grimmjow..._

 _He's crying,_ Sienna commented.

 _"That shouldn't be possible."_

 _Oh? But didn't you model us all off of the humans? Yuelki is the most human of us all: he has emotions. I'm not surprised that he's learned how to express his sadness. you know we've seen tons of it._

Death was silent as he listened to Yuelki's whimpers and sobs for a few seconds more. _"But he isn't human... he..."_ Death trailed off. His shoulders slumped. _"Very well."_ He turned and headed towards the doors he rarely used.

 _Where are you going, Master?_ Sienna wondered.

Pausing with a hand on the door, he sighed. _"To... meet with my siblings..."_

* * *

A year had gone by and Grimm still couldn't get over White. He supposed that it was silly for him to care so much, but at the same time he didn't care how silly it might've been. He had bonded with White in a way that he'd never experienced with a fellow human, and the separation was killing him. Still, he forced himself to trek on. Grimmjow ran the company with a strict hand, though his employees thanked him for it and happily worked for him.

Due to some of the innovations Grimm's company put through, he was being thanked with a small ceremony of sorts, complete with his own speech that he had to make, and afterwards the company would be given a new grant for them to use on one of their underfunded projects.

Dressed in a fine tailored suit of a rich brown with a cream silk shirt and a wine colored tie. He was nervous, this being the first time he'd ever made a speech, though he'd attended many of his father's speeches. There was applause as he was introduced and he stepped up to the podium, smiling politely as he waited for the crowd to settle.

A burst of light blinded them all just as the crowd settled and Grimmjow was about to begin. The audience screamed in fear and chairs scraped and feet plodded as the confused people tried to flee, but when the light cleared they all froze and looked on in awe.

The God Death had appeared before them.

Only his upper half was visible in the light as his gargantuan form would have had no chance of fitting in the large auditorium. He looked around the room before he cast his empty gaze unto Grimmjow. He cocked his head.

 _"So you are the human my Collector is so infatuated with,"_ Death boomed in a voice that sounded in their minds and out. _"You are Grimmjow."_

The bluenet's mouth opened and closed in the uncanny semblance of a fish before he found his voice. "Uh, ah, yes. Yes, Lord Death." He bowed deeply before looking upon the God once more. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your appearance?"

Death was silent for a moment, his head still cocked as he considered the tiny human before him. _"This."_ He raised a hand and a human-sized form fell from the light and landed on the stage with a bodily thump and the clang and clatter of chains.

Grimmjow gasped and rushed a few steps forward before he managed to stop himself. "White!" he uttered in shock.

The pale collector seemed to have seen better times from what Grimm could see as the chains connecting the Collector to his creator pulled taught and lifted him like the strings on a marionette. His hair was ragged and dull as if draped in front of his face and his eyes were unseeing. His cloak seemed to have turned an odd off-white and there were jagged tears here and there to be seen on it.

 _"I have a proposition for you, human."_ Death declared, unaffected by Grimmjow's reaction. When Grimmjow tore his gaze from the struggling Collector, Death continued. _"You have ruined what is mine."_

Grimmjow flinched, but wisely remained silent.

 _"You are all that my Collector thinks about, to the point that he over works himself to distract his mind of his thoughts for you. It is unhealthy for what he is. What will you do to make up for what you've done?"_

Grimmjow didn't hesitate. Not only was it unwise for one to hesitate in front of a God, but the blue-haired human found that he would do what ever he could to make sure that White was okay. "Anything. Please, Lord Death, anything, just tell me what's wrong and what I can do."

 _"I am faced with a few choices due to your unfortunate actions."_ Death continued. _"My Collector is damaged, and has even broke some of my laws that I placed over them. That necessitates a remaking."_

Grimmjow and the audience all gasped.

 _"However, I'm left with another option."_ The God lifted his hand, and in it there were two things in it. _"Do you know what these are, human?"_

Grimmjow nodded dumbly. "Yes. A soul and a hogyoku, correct?"

The answer made Death actually smirk for the briefest of moments. _"We merely call it a creation orb, but then again you humans always had such interesting names for what is mine and my siblings'. Nonetheless, you are correct. With these, I could make this Collector a human."_

Murmurs erupted in the crowd.

 _"However, you must care for him in his human state."_

"Yes."

Death's eyebrows rose at Grimm's quick response. _"So quickly? But you have not heard my stipulations."_

"I said anything, Lord Death, and I meant it."

Death smiled. _"Your love and devotion for my creation warms me. Very well."_ There was a clank as the chains were pulled again and Death looked down on White. _"Open your mouth, my child, and accept your new life."_

White's mouth fell open and Death dropped the two orbs into the gaping maw. White swallowed and soon he was writhing in what looked like pain. The cloak melted away and afterwards a chain shot out of Whites heart and connected to Grimm's. With a scream of pain, Grimmjow fell to his knees and clutched at the links and the odd metal plate over his heart.

 _"Now I will tell you of the other stipulations to this just so there is no surprises later on. Your soul and the one bound to his body are now mine. His life is directly linked to yours as represented by that chain linking your hearts, so when you die you will not return to Terra in rebirth. You will instead become another of my Collectors and you will serve me in gathering and fixing souls. I'd ask if you agreed with these conditions, but seeing how we are in the middle of the transformation, it'd be rather pointless."_

Suddenly, a loud scream tore out of White as the new human finally earned his voice and could display his pain at the rebirth. The screaming stopped and then the chains wrapped around him dissolved and White fell to the floor with a harsh thud and grunt. The chain connecting their hearts disappeared and Grimmjow found that he could move again.

 _"Enjoy the rest of your lives,"_ Death murmured and disappeared, taking his light with him.

Once Death was gone, Grimmjow got to his feet, and rushed to White, calling for him as the former Collector struggled to sit up. He pulled off his suit-jacket and draped it over his bare shoulders. "White. White, are you okay?" He held White's face in his hands and tried to make the pale man look him in the eye, but White wouldn't comply, to enthralled by his new body.

He stared at his hands in awe and flexed the digits. His hair fell into his face and he made a little gasp as he reached to touch the now dark strands. He looked up at Grimmjow and with an inane smile, he reached out with his new hands and touched the bluenet's face. He touched Grimm's lips and nose ears, making little pleased sounds all the while as his fingers slipped into Grimm's tamed locks which had been slicked back for the celebration. Grimm gasped in pain when White grabbed handfuls of his hair and forced him into a heated albeit fumbling kiss.

The kissed lasted a bare moment before White pulled away and looked at him whit vibrant green eyes. He opened his mouth, and after a few tries, he spoke.

"Yuelki... my name is... Yuelki."

* * *

Sweet! This is my longest chapter ever with 16,099 words! This makes me quite happy!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this story! Pretty please leave a review and have a wonderful day!


	3. Epilogue

The sounds of slow beeps and the shushing of air being pumped filled his ears and acrid smells of cleaner and urine assaulted his nose as he laid in the hospital bed, half curled up around the man it'd been assigned to; Grimmjow.

Yuelki looked up at the man with a small smile as he ran his wrinkly hand over his chest making the once blue-haired man open his eyes, both cloudy with cataracts, and shakily lift a hand to rest it on Yuelki's. A smile formed on his face as well and he let his eyes close once more, sighing deeply through his nose.

So this was what death felt like. Yuelki was fascinated as someone who had always witnessed death, but never experienced death and with his past as a Soul Collector, he could feel the bonds that held his soul to his body slowly weakening as his body aged and lost strength as well.

The once ravenet sighed blissfully as he rubbed his cheek against the rough fabric that covered Grimmjow's chest. He'd enjoyed being human. Everything from the excitement of wearing Grimmjow's clothes to the disappointment of having to wear his own instead; walking into walls and learning how to use doors; remembering that he could speak instead of having to nod to everything; the embarrassment of his first bodily functions; the lessons of bodily love he'd coerced Grimmjow into teaching him. Everything.

There was a familiar sound and he looked up to see one of his siblings there. "Hello, Noir!" he rasped excitedly. Noir was the one who had taken up the task of collecting souls in the city he and Grimmjow lived in as well as one of the adjacent regions; Yuelki still felt bad that he'd had to take up double the work.

The black-haired Soul Collector smiled at Yuelki and walked around the bed to press a kiss to Yuelki's cheek -something almost all the Soul Collectors had eventually learned to do as well as like doing with the exception of Rosso who now worked in a region where kissing wasn't commonplace. He returned to the other side of the hospital bed where Yuelki could better lay his eyes on him.

"I will be helping you again soon," Yuelki said to Noir as he felt the natural tugging of his soul wanting to go to the Collector. That was a well kept secret, actually, that the presence of a Soul Collector made those dying of natural causes die a little faster as a way of relieving them of their suffering a little quicker.

Noir flinched when Grimmjow silently lifted his hand from where he'd placed it on Yuelki's and reached out, blindly, towards the Soul Collector. After a moment, Noir leaned down and rested a cheek against the weathered palm and enjoyed a good head rub before Grimmjow returned his hand to Yuelki's, where he rubbed small circles into it with his thumb.

Suddenly the chain connecting the pair's hearts appeared; it was time.

Yuelki smiled at Noir one more time as he began to feel himself fading. Just before everything went dark, he heard the machine monitoring Grimmjow's heart flat-line.

* * *

He was expelled into a burning bright light suddenly and fell to the hard ground with a silent grunt. Panic fueling him, he hopped to his feet with a speed he hadn't felt in ages, and suddenly he was being wrapped in extra flesh and chains. His eyes opened and he looked around. Yuelki, back in his white Soul Collector form, stood next to him.

The little Collector shook his hair into his face and his shoulders slumped. _My hair's white again..._ he whined in an inner voice that was much more child-like than what Grimmjow had come to know. He surprised both himself and Yuelki when he reached out and ruffled his hair. _Your arms aren't covered!_

 _"Yes, how odd."  
_

The booming voice made Grimmjow jump and he looked up to see the God of Death towering over them; with the abundance of light, he cast no shadow. Lord Death looked the same as he had all those years ago when he'd placed Yuelki into his care. He strained his neck looking up at the giant god as he only came to the guy's knee. His long ebony hair trailed to his waist, framing an angular face that held haunting inverted eyes. The former human jumped in fright when Death leaned down and scooped him, Yuelki, and Noir up in one sweep before turning and heading to his throne. He sat down and rested the other two Collectors on his lap while keeping Grimmjow to study.

The configuration of Grimmjow's cloak and chains were very strange indeed. His cloak had taken up more of a strapless dress shape with the cloak tucked up under his armpits. There were shackles on his wrists with chains connecting them at the back of a band of metal around his waist, but they didn't bind. No, as Death moved one of his arms around they found that his range of motion was not hindered at all. Other than his shackles and the chain extending from his chest to Yuelki's, Grimmjow bore no other chains.

 _"Tell me, Grimmjow,"_ Death murmured as he set Grimmjow on his lap, next to Yuelki and Noir. _"What were your final thoughts as you died?"_

Grimmjow found himself screwing up his face in thought unsure of just what his final thoughts were. After all, he'd done the whole life-flashing-before-your-eyes bit just before his soul detached. Huffing unnecessarily, something he'd have to get used to not doing anymore, he looked to Yuelki for... inspiration.

A smile came over him as he looked at his husband and love of his non-life. Did the whole "til death do us part'" bit of the marriage vows count for him and Yuelki? He looked to his hands wistfully thinking of the matching bands that hadn't carried over to their Soul Collector forms. Ah!

'I wished that I could always touch, Yuelki.' Was what he attempted to say, but nothing left his throat.

Noir's inner voice chuckled at him. _Come now, brother. You can no longer speak like a human. You have to use your mind to speak now. Go on. Try it._

 _So just think to speak?_ Grimmjow tried and succeeded, then again it _was_ a rather simple task.

 _Precisely. Now answer Master's question._

Grimmjow looked back to the tall God and restated his answer making Death nod and rub his chin. _"Him I wonder if it's a product of your original humanity, or that you were given your soul after birth. That and your eyes."_

Grimmjow touched his face. _My eyes?_

 _They're solid blue,_ Yuelki whispered dreamily and snuggled against his side. _The same color as when you were human. I'm glad that didn't change._

Grimmjow pulled Yuelki in for a warm embrace. _I'm glad you're happy._ He enjoyed the moment for a while until he caught sight of his ringless finger yet again. Despite the chain still connecting his and Yuelki's hearts, he still wished that they had their wedding bands.

Noir gave the embracing Soul Collectors an odd look before making an enlightened sound. Suddenly, he made a loud cough. Everyone looked at him as he shook his head and tried again, leaning over and hacking a little more forcefully. Two objects flew from his mouth to land on their master's lap.

Grimmjow gasped and released Ulqui only to go pick them up. _Our rings! You got them for us, Noir?_

 _Yes. Don't even ask how hard it was for me to get across to those doctors that I wanted them to remove them and put them in my mouth. I'm really jealous that you have hands right now._ The last sentence was said with as much joviality as actual envy.

With a smile, Grimmjow motioned to slip the bigger of the rings onto his finger.

 _No, no. I want to do it!_ Yuelki pled, his mouth open wide to accept the ring.

Chuckling, the bluenet set it upright between Yuelki's thin lips and let the white male slip it onto the designated finger which some how still bore the pale line of where it had always rested all those years. When that was done, Grimm faced a problem: where would he put Yuelki's ring?

Yuelki moved closer. _On my finger._

Grimmjow looked and saw the outline of Ulqui's slim hand through the cloak where it rested against his shoulder. _Won't it hurt for me to pull on your cloak?_

 _No._

 _Okay then._ Grimm gently tugged at the cloak until he could see his still-husband's hand. It was the wrong one, but that was okay, Grimm just wanted them both to wear their rings. Yuelki kissed him the moment Grimm shifted his cloak back in place.

 _"Are you finished?"_ Lord Death asked.

 _Yes, sir,_ Grimmjow said.

Death lifted a hand and many souls gathered in his palm. _"Then take these souls into you."_

Grimmjow stared at the floating painfully bright orbs. _How?_ He couldn't help but to feel a tad dumb for asking.

 _"Don't think about it. It should come as naturally to you as breathing did when you were human."_

Nodding, he stared at the souls and opened his mouth. A strange sucking sensation started and the souls drew into him one-by-one. Lethargy came over him as the ninth soul slipped down his gullet and Lord Death stopped him before he could take in the tenth. _So tired..._

 _"When you feel this way, return here and I'll give you a tenth."_

 _What then?_

 _"You'll fall into a deep slumber while your body fixes the souls."_

Grimmjow nodded. _Yeah, I could do with some deep slumber._

Death chuckled before giving Grimmjow the last soul, and his blue eyes fluttered closed as he fell forward.

* * *

 _300 years later; War of Gran Rey_

"Hey, look over there."

The brunet soldier looked to where his friend was pointing and gaped. It was **them**. The Married Soul Collectors. He couldn't take his eyes off the couple, an interesting pair with a tall, masculine blue-haired male with an albino androgynous one. He'd never thought he'd ever see them with his own two eyes as they usually worked on the other side of the globe. Nothing like a war to bring everyone together, huh?

Creation, they really did act like a newly married couple, how the blue one wouldn't stop hugging the white one and how the white one would snuggle up to him. Wait, what was...? His eyes widened. "Is the blue one talking?!"

His friend shook his head. "The legend says that the blue one used to be human. I think he just can't break the habit of moving his lips when talking."

The brunet nodded. He knew the legend well. The legend of how a human fell in love with a Soul Collector and eventually Lord Death turned the Soul Collector into a human. "Hey, do you think they're actually married, or do people just say that because of the chain on their chests?"

His friend shrugged.

"Well, hasn't anyone ever asked?"

"Like talked to them? No! You don't talk to them; that's just asking to get your soul taken."

"That's just taboo bullshit."

"Either way, I ain't chancing it."

He shook his head and got up from his crouch around the cooking fire.

"Where you going?" his friend called to him.

"To talk to them!" he called over his shoulder and trekked on. He felt the stares of his many comrades as he walked by them on his way to the Soul Collector couple. They noticed him as he neared. He gave a little wave. "Hello there."

They smiled at him and the blue one mouthed, "Hello," back.

The brunet jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. "Hey, uh, me and the guys were just wondering: are you two really married?"

The blue one nodded and held up his hand; there was a wedding band on his ring finger.

He gaped and, without thinking, grabbed the Soul Collector's hand to examine it a little closer. "Whoa. That's the real deal." He looked at the albino one. "Do you have one too?" The blue one dragged his partner closer and carefully peeled back a portion of his cloak to reveal a hand with a ring on it's finger. There was also a slip of laminated paper near the hand. "What's that?"

The paper was pulled free and hand to him, and he unfolded it to find them to be marriage papers. Very old marriage papers. "You two really **are** married! For how long?"

Blue pointed at the date on the paper.

"That's almost 400 years!" The brunet chuckled. "Til death do us part my ass!"

Blue threw his head back in a silent laugh and White shook a little with his own mirth.

The soldier gave the paper back and held out his hand for a handshake once it was tucked away once more. Blue grasped his hand in a firm, albeit cool, handshake. "Congrats on your long-lasting marriage. I hope you'll continue you to love each other."

A smirk formed on the blue one's lips and he looked over at his partner. Before the other could react, he snatched him over and smashed their lips together in a passionate, well-practiced, kiss that the white one seemed to melt into. Hoots and whistles went on behind him from the other soldiers. The white one's face was priceless as the kiss ended and he headbutted the blue one in the shoulder before walking off. Blue gave another silent laugh before waving and chasing after his life -or unlife in this case- mate.

The brunet man returned to the cooking fire to be jostled and touched by his comrades as they jokingly checked to make sure that his soul was still intact.

* * *

Thank you for reading this little tidbit I decided to write up. I hope you enjoyed!


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